Knelt By Her Notebook
by The Lil' Lion
Summary: Annabeth Chase... she's a mystery Percy Jackson will never solve. She carries her Leather notebook with her everywhere she goes. She eats lunch alone. She's quiet but also stands up for herself. It was a mistake to read through her notebook. Now she'll hate him even more. (Rated T just in case)
1. Chapter 1

There's a girl in his class that always sits in the back, writing in her notebook. Percy has basically memorized what that book looks like. Pieces of paper are sticking out all around, and it's leather, with random stickers put all over the back of it.

What he doesn't know, is what's inside. See, he's been going to school with Annabeth Chase for the past five years, and he still has no clue what she might be writing in there. As far as he knows, she's just scribbling random words.

He's not a bully. He's never been. But his friends can be, and she is the perfect target. He mostly watches as they periodically harass her for her writing. It makes him feel sick to his stomach. He wishes he could stop them, but he's not brave enough.

There was one time, when he tried to talk to her after, simply pull her aside and say sorry, ask her what she was always writing about. She just glared at him and walked away, mumbling the word "Asshole" under her breath.

He deserves it, he knows he does.

Percy doesn't think he's seen her with anyone else. She always stays in the same place during lunch, except on Tuesdays. For some reason, he can never find her on Tuesdays.

It's not an obsession, he tries to convince himself, but his conscious gets the better of him. Who is he kidding? He should just ignore this girl, and go to one of the cheerleaders instead. Ask them on a date. Focus on them.

He's always noticed her, not just this year, when she had a glow up and started to stand out in a crowd a bit more- he's noticed her since eighth grade, when she moved from California. She was in his 5th and 6th period classes, and sat down two rows away from him.

When she was introduced to the class, she muttered her name, and clutched her notebook. The same one she has now.

Percy noticed her ever since. She hasn't noticed him though, not in that way. And she never will. Annabeth Chase doesn't deserve someone like him.

Which is why he hesitates, when looking at the very same notebook he's seen from afar many times, right in front of him, next to the same computer he's at.

He didn't _want _to go to the library during Lunch, but his swim coach said that if he wanted to swim in the next tournament, he would have to keep his grades at a B at least.

_Should I give it to her? _He wonders, _Or… no. I can't read it. That would be invasive._

_Or would it? _The devil on his shoulder said.

_Don't do it! _The sane side of his mind screamed

He opens the book, and flipped through the pages.

Writing. Paragraphs and paragraphs of writing. Drawings on the side to. He starts to read, from the first page, and sees that it's the start of a book.

He reads further, until the passage stops. _Post by tomorrow night, _bold, and underlined, beneath the paragraph it reads.

It's… online? He didn't know you could post writing publically. He wondered where you could find this story online. He could look for it, or…

Or, he could continue reading what was already there.

He flipped through the pages, reading it. It seemed to be an adventure story, about a girl, on a far away planet. Her parents were dead, and the only companion she had was a hilarious, talking sword. It wasn't like anything he'd every read before. It was different- not like the stuff he was assigned in class.

When Percy thought about it, he hadn't really read anything out of class. He'd always dismissed it as "boring" and "a waste of time," which was ironic, because his mom was an author. She had written three books so far, all a mix of romance and dystopia.

Even so, reading had always seemed like a faraway subject, something that didn't matter, that he didn't care about.

But this was good. This story intrigued him, and he wanted to know more.

So he googled it. The computer was right there. Why not look at what was available to him. He soon found it, but there were more links attached to it than expected. Several forums. An entire merch website. Tons of articles. And most of all, the actual story.

When he found the writing, and the amount of people that read it, and the amount of people dedicated to it, he nearly fainted.

Annabeth Chase, for all this time, had been some sort of internet celebrity. How had he not known this? How had the school not known this.

Maybe Annabeth wanted to keep it secret. Maybe Annabeth didn't _want _people to know. That was perfectly plausible. Percy had heard of people online who'd kept up their anonymity for years because they didn't want to face the heaps of fans that loved them.

They'd go about their day, pretending what they did didn't impact the minds and hearts of millions. They'd be pretending all the time. If they saw someone interested in what they had created, the would ignore it, or worse, play along.

Percy hadn't understood this, but not he was starting to. If people figured out that Annabeth was the author of this _work of art_, they might try to get into her circle of friends. Befriend her for her work, not who she was.

Percy understood that. It happened everyday to him. He was constantly trying to weed out the people that didn't really care about him, or wanted to get to know him so they could learn his "secrets."

Plus, Annabeth didn't sound like the type of person that loved attention of any form. As far as he knew, she didn't really have any friends. He saw her talking to a couple of people after school once, but once she was done talking to them, they went their separate ways. He didn't see her hanging out with them again.

Even so, Percy pondered why she would keep it a secret. He understood that he and Annabeth weren't the same person, but if he had this thing, that so many people loved, then he would tell people about it. Spread the word.

He bookmarked the page, and then held up Annabeth's notebook to his eyes. With every word he read, he wondered:

_Who the heck is Annabeth Chase?_

He continued to flip through the pages, reading every word on the page until-

"_What the hell are you doing with that?" _

Shit.

Annabeth.

**Thanks for reading! I don't know how long this will be so far, but I hope to update weekly! **

**Also, what do you think so far? What do you predict will happen?**


	2. Chapter 2

Percy dropped the notebook on the ground. The book feel flat on the pages. He knew he shouldn't have done anything. He knew he should have just left it there for her to find.

"Did you think it would be funny?" She laughed humorlessly. "Did you think you could show it to your jock friends, and laugh about it all day?"

"No." Percy looked down at his feet in shame. He couldn't believe this was happening. The one time he got to talk to Annabeth, and it was because she was made at him? "I- it's really good. This story- a lot of people read it online."

"Yeah." Annabeth glared even harder, if that was possible. "No one at this school was suppose to figure it out." She looked around the library, as if someone was going to walk in and reveal her secret to the public. "You- you can't tell anyone." She continued. She looked different now, sad defeated. "If you told them, they'd make fun of me more. Or, worse, try to be my friend for my work. Not me."

"I won't tell anyone." He was firm. Why would he? One, she would hate him even more than she already did, and two, he would never have a chance. "You're really good at writing Annabeth."

Her eyebrows raised. She looked surprised. "You- you know my name?"

"Well, yeah." Percy shrugged. "You've been in my classes since eighth grade."

"I guess- I guess I didn't think you paid attention." What? Well, of course he didn't outwardly pay attention to her. But he was always looking at her. Trying to pick her out on a crowd. It was a never ending charade. One he didn't think he would stop playing. Because, as he had told himself multiple times, _nothing is going to come out of it. _

He'd told timeself it was a phase multiple times, that he could stop, that there were other, more attainable girls out there, but the truth of it, was that it wasn't a phase. He really liked Annabeth Chase. He just didn't know why.

"Uh… are the lights still on in there?" Percy shook his head slightly, trying to get the thoughts away. He couldn't give himself away. Not now.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, they're on." Percy responded slowly.

"Huh. I was worried you forgot to pay the bill." Annabeth blushed. "Anyway… what were you saying? I think you trailed off."

"Oh." Percy said. "Oh!" He smacked himself in the head. "I was just saying that it would be rude of me to not know your name."

"Well. Yeah." Annabeth looked at him for a second. And they stood there in silence for a couple minutes, staring at each other. It felt like there was nothing more to say. It wasn't awkward, per say, in any other situation it would be, it was just silence.

"Can I have my notebook back?" Annabeth said suddenly. "Your still a jerk, you know."

"Oh!" Percy bent down and picked up the book. "Here." He handed it to her. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

She walked away, the book held close to her chest, as if she were afraid it would fly away. Percy didn't know whether or not he would be able to talk to her again, in the way they just did, but he hoped they did. He felt a little spark of energy between the to- a connection, to be cliche. He wished that he and Annabeth weren't apart of two different worlds. That it wouldn't be weird for him to suddenly sit next to her during lunch. Or ask where she went on Tuesdays.

He was already thinking up excuses to talk to her again. Maybe he could fake a sickness and ask her for an assignment? See if he could find her number on the school directory and ask about the English homework?

Or he could just say "hi." Like a normal person. Not like someone who was infatuated in someone completely unattainable. Maybe-

His thoughts were interrupted by the bell. Of course. He logged out of the computer, closing all tabs and grabbed his stuff. His class was all the way across the school, so it would take a while to get there. Maybe he could just come in late.

He went into the hallway, and was immediately serenaded by passing voices, all clamoring to talk to him.

"Hey Percy! Nice swim last week." One voice said.

"Perce! Are we still hanging out after school?" Another added.

"Hey handsome. What are you doing?"

He ignored them all, and trying to push all thoughts of Annabeth out of his mind. He focused on getting to class, and not looking like a weirdo. Which he was. Of course. But no one saw him like that.

When he arrived at class, he sat down in his normal seat, and waited for his teacher to arrive.

But he suddenly felt a tap on his back. Jumping and turning around, he saw Drew. He had made out with Drew at a couple of parties before in the past, and she'd wanted to be a thing, but Percy just wasn't interested.

"Hey!" She said, smiling widely. "You didn't say 'hi' back!"

"Yeah." Percy replied, disinterested. He felt bad that he couldn't return feelings with Drew, even if she wasn't the nicest person in the world. "Yeah. I didn't hear you." A lie. He could hear her signature "hey handsome" from ten miles away. It was _super _high pitched.

"I hope you'll come to my party next weekend." She countintinued.

"Yeah. I'll be sure to show up." Percy looked up, and saw the teacher, Mrs. Alucard walking in. Thank god. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to keep this conversation up.

The teacher droned on, and Percy momentarily took notes down. He was really trying to get his grades up, and this was one he was failing. Some people were giving him confused looks, because _why would Percy Jackson be talking notes? _But he really didn't care.

He continued to write notes down, and when the bell rang, he went to his teacher, and talked about how he could fix his grade. Mrs. Alucard told him what he needed to do, and when he checked his watch as he was leaving, he realized he had a minute to get there.

He bolted out the door and threw the hallway. As he turned the corner, he collided with another person, and fell onto the ground.

The other person slowly picked themselves up. She laughed. "It's funny, we keep meeting in dire situations like this."

Percy looked up. "Oh, hi Annabeth."

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed.**

**How do you like Annabeth? Would you like to have any chapters in her point of view?**


	3. Chapter 3

"Don't you need to get to class?" Annabeth asked, picking up her stuff from the floor, and holding it to her chest.

Percy had been staring at her for twenty seconds. "Oh!" He said. "Right, yeah." Annabeth wondered if he was nervous. He looked nervous. "I'm sorry for bumping into you."

Annabeth smirked. "That's alright." 

"Don't you have to get to class to?"

Annabeth pointed to herself. "Free period." She said. "Bye Percy."

He walked away, and she found herself wondering why she was feeling a little warm inside. Flustered- if she was being honest. He was just so… she couldn't describe it. It's not that she liked him- far from that- his friend group had harassed her multiple times- but he was… alright.

She pulled the thought of him out of her mind. It was time to work on her story. The one she had created years ago, and had filled her notebook with. The one Percy Jackson had read.

_No- get him out of your mind, _She thought, and continued on her way through the halls. She arrived at her locker, and took her inking pen out of it. Annabeth considered character sketches on of the most important parts of characterization as a whole. She usually posted Character sketches ever fifteen chapters, and she was coming closer to her next fifteen.

She had a chapter schedule, so one chapter was released every week. She always had written the next three chapters prior to that, so if she was on vacation, things would release as needed.

In short, she had this "internet celebrity" thing all sorted out. She could manage comments, private messages, and publishing opportunities by herself. She even had a merch shop.

All of her friends were on the internet. That's why at school, she looked like a loner. Her two best friends were faraway- one living in San Juan, and the other in London. Reyna and Rachel are awesome friends, but Annabeth doesn't really have anyone else.

During her free time, she either works of sketches, chapters, or texts Reyna and Rachel. Reyna is in College, and Rachel is the same age as her.

She heads to the art room, which is free during this period, and the teacher, Mr. Willis lets her use it and the art supplies. Once she arrives in the room, she takes out her brush pens from her binder, and gets her notebook. She has the outline of one of the characters done, but she needs to shade, outline, and color it. Inking is probably her favorite part of the job, so she gets out her three main pens, and begins to fill the lines in.

The idea that what she's doing is constant- and the millions of people that enjoy it is constant, makes her feel better. Everyday, she checks her account to see hundreds of notifications from people she doesn't know- but people who love and enjoy her work.

She would hate to have her identity revealed and have the perfect world she built for herself burst into flames.

And now Percy Jackson knows.

Secretly, Annabeth's very insecure about her identity being revealed- if not partially. She's worked so hard on this, and from what she's seen, she can't tell if Percy's a trustworthy person or not.

And she doesn't know why everytime she sees him she flushes. She doesn't know because he never talks to her. His friends ridicule her.

But there are these times, these special little moments were she caught him looking at her. He was just staring. And she doesn't know why. She doesn't know whether or not it's a good thing- or, if it's bad.

It probably doesn't matter. Annabeth was fine were she was. She doesn't need a relationship- or at least the thoughts of one.

What she needs to do is focus on her story. She went back to inking in the features of her characters, ignoring the world around her.

She would draw straight lines, curved lines, and dashes all around her main subject, and when she was finished, she got out her brush pens. The brush pens were a prized possession. She took care of them as if they were her baby. She had gotten them Freshman year, from her mother on christmas. She had been asking for the expensive ones that she found at these art store for a while, because she was too broke to buy them.

She hadn't started the merch store then, so the only thing she could get money from was her weekly 5 dollar allowance. In short, she wasn't able to go out much.

She filled in the colors of her sketch, and as she was just finishing, as if it was perfectly timed, the bell rang.

She collected her art supplies, and put them into her binder. Being carefully of grabbing her notebook, and making sure that it was closed, she walked out the door to her next class. Which luckily was eighth period.

She had mixed feelings about eighth period. One it was gym, and two most of Percy's friend group was in that class, which meant she got ridiculed for her poor dodgeball skills mercilessly.

Percy wasn't in the class, obviously, but as she looked over at the boys in his friend group, she flushed a little inside. _Why am I doing this to myself? _She thought, _Why am I convincing myself that this guy feels something for me?_

_Well, _Annabeth reasoned, _He obviously doesn't, he's just being a decent human being. _

_But what if he does? _A nagging little annoying part of her brain bounced back.

Annabeth stood in the back of the class as everyone hurled balls at each other like cavemen. She leaned against the wall, and watched as a couple of other kids got out.

Class ended twenty minutes later, and throughout it, she kept reasoning with herself why Percy didn't care about her or her story.

_Her story. _She had to write another chapter, and work on the newest update. She could do that when she got home, right? Only a couple of homework assignments today.

On the bus, she logged into her account, and posted a general message to her followers that a new chapter was coming soon. As she was scrolling through the comments, she noticed one, that especially stuck out to her.

It was from a user called: PercytheWaterBoy. This couldn't be a coincidence. The comment read: "Just read the entire story in one sitting. Can't wait for the next update!"

And it finally happened. Someone from her school, that she knew, and that knew her, had read her story.

This might be a problem.

**I hoped you liked this new chapter! I did a chapter in Annabeth's perspective, and I hope it was good.**

**How are you liking the story? What do you think is going to happen next?**


	4. Chapter 4

Once Annabeth got home, she collapsed onto her bed. She didn't have to post a new chapter for another two hours, so she was able to relax and do her homework.

Well, and finish the new chapter of course.

She was _never _this late in finishing a chapter. She usually finished during her free period. But she had spent her free period drawing and thinking about Percy.

Sure, she wasn't posting this chapter, but still, she liked to have three chapters done before she posted a new one.

She blamed Percy for her lateness. But before she went pointing fingers, she had properties. Writing the new chapter, finishing her homework, and then… thinking about Percy.

_Goddamnit Annabeth! _She told herself, _Percy isn't important. He doesn't like you, and he never will. _

She sighed, and pushed her pillow against her head. Her phone rang with more notifications and comments on her newest forum post, and several messages from Reyna and Rachel came in.

They were all reading the same thing: "Update soon!" "I love your work!" "Nice chapter!"

Reyna had texted her that she had prevented the merch store from crashing, and Rachel had notified her of the impending trouble of her boyfriend, some guy named Luke who frankly, was a jerk.

That was self-proclaimed.

Annabeth shut her phone off and reached for her computer, which was on her night stand. She opened it up, and got onto a new document. Adding a title to the new chapter, she ran her fingers through her hair, and opened her notebook, which sat beside her.

The notebook had illustrated how this chapter would conclude. This wasn't a major chapter, actually, it was more filler, and although it wouldn't be published for another three weeks, she wanted it to be pristine and edited clean.

After she had finished the chapter and edited it clean, she checked her watch, and saw that she was due for another chapter within the next twenty minutes. She went onto the link for the chapter, and looked over it one more time, making sure that it was cleaning and easy-to-read.

Once she was sure it was perfect, she posted it. Twenty minutes later, as she was starting her homework, the comments reeled in. Her phone buzzed, until she had to turn it on silent mode. She liked to ignore most, as so many came in she only had time for a general post, but there again, was another comment from Percy (or who she thought was Percy).

She read it, and pointedly ignored it, because didn't Percy understand? She didn't want someone like him commenting on her post.

Not someone like him persay. Just someone she knew. Someone who could do actual damage to her life.

Annabeth wished this whole situation wasn't a problem. She wished, she could just post her chapter, not think about Percy, and finish her homework.

She took out a pencil, and started on her math homework. She liked to leave the best for last, which was her English homework today. She had to analyze a text from a book called "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, and although for an average high schooler this would be boring, she loved Achebe's writing. It was colorful and descriptive. The language, in her opinion, was gorgeous.

After she had finished all other homework, she began the analysis, which took her thirty minutes. Once finished, she returned to the internet. Her savior.

She checked the amount of views and comments on her story, which gained by the daily. Currently, it was at seven point one million per chapter.

She smiled into her computer, and then went downstairs to get some dinner. She turned her notifications on, so that she could respond to questions during her meal. Most people knew that she was online at this time, so questions and conversations started reeling in.

She answered the first couple that came in, and then set her phone down, digging into her mac and cheese. Another message from Percy came up, and she sighed. Maybe she shouldn't be ignoring him.

"Hi Annabeth," It read. She paused. It wasn't a very descriptive message, but she wondered why he would message her. He never seemed to care that much, so why did he now?

"Hey Percy." She responded. She began to type another message, and then deleted it after another response from Percy came back.

"I just wanted to tell you this is an awesome story," it read. Another one came in. "You probably hear that a lot, but I don't really like reading that much, but I like reading this."

"Do you?" She typed back and sent.

"Yeah." His response came back. "I do." Annabeth blushed. "Your really cool Annabeth." It continued on. She was flaming read now.

"That's a first." She typed back. "I have a question for you." She asked.

"Shoot." Came his response. Even though it was just a bunch of typed up words, Annabeth could sense the sincerity in his response.

"Why are you suddenly talking to me?" She frowned. "Is it because you found of I'm internet famous?"

There was a pause. He didn't type anything back for five minutes, and Annabeth leaned forward in anticipation for the response.

Suddenly, a message appeared. "I've always noticed you Annabeth." It read. "I just… didn't think to act on it until now." It continued.

Annabeth laughed out loud. That was hysterical. "Why would you notice me? I'm terribly unexceptable." Maybe it was a sad thing to say out loud, but for Annabeth at least, it was true. Sadly true, and admittedly, unwanted, but true.

"So you think." The message was almost there instantly. "I gotta go Annabeth, but it was nice to talk to you. I'll see you tomorrow." The one after it read.

"I'll see you tomorrow" sounded like a promise. Like maybe, in real life, he'd talk to her, and he'd actually want to get to know her.

Annabeth went back to her mac and cheese. Whatever this new thing with Percy was, she couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.


	5. Chapter 5

Percy smiled to himself and set his phone down. He had created an account on the site Annabeth had posted her story on as soon as he got home from school, and proceeded to comment on forums, and her story to see if he would get her attention.

He was aware that this was kind of creepy, but for some reason, he really wanted to talk to her.

And eventually she did. They chatted for a while, and when Percy's mom asked him down for dinner, he said goodbye, and turned off his phone, still smiling.

As he walked down the stairs of his house, his mother caught his eye and smiled back at him. "What's got you so happy?" She asked.

"Nothing." He smiled even wider

"Well," His mom responded, "It looks like something. But I won't preen."

They ate dinner, momentarily discussing each other's day. His mother was coming out with a new book soon, so she was super busy all the time now. Her last book had been a bust, so both her and Percy were hoping this new book would be a redeeming point.

Percy, at this point, decided to share a little bit about why he was so happy. "So I read a book." He said, and Sally's eyes widened.

"You read a book!" She gasped theatrically, "Doth thou knoweth what that means?"

"You're so funny Mom." Percy said sarcastically, and rolled his eyes. "It's a good book. And it isn't for school."

"What's it called?" His mom leaned in.

"Well," Percy looked down, embarrassed. "It's actually online."

"Oh." His mother smiled. "That's cool. I didn't know you could publish books online."

"Yeah. It was really well written. Actually made me want to read more."

"Well, that's nice. I'm glad your reading something, even if it is online."

They continued on with their conversation, until dinner was over. Percy washed the dishes, and put them away, while his mother worked on her new book.

Once Percy had finished washing the dishes, and his mother had gotten were she needed to be in her editing, Percy went to sleep early. Somewhere, in his subconscious he knew that the next day would be long.

The next day, Percy woke up, and got ready. He did everything as normal, but something had changed. A devotion- something like that, he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Once he arrived at school, he found himself looking for Annabeth, more than he usually did. In fact, it was in such a way, that when he found her, he walked toward her, wanting to actually talk.

Annabeth looked up from her notebook, as he approached. She seemed surprised, like she didn't believe he would actually talk to her in school.

"Hey." He said, "I- I know I told you this before, but I really liked the chapter you posted. I read all of the story last night."

"Yeah. I know." Annabeth responded. For a second, Percy was nervous that her feelings about him had changed. That maybe he had come off as over-eager, or just weird last night in there conversation.

That didn't matter. He was just overthinking it. She probably just didn't think he cared. Sure, that wasn't how he came off yesterday, he thought, after re-reading all the messages he sent, but maybe those didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

"You aren't leaving that much room for conversation." Percy said, interrupting the inevitable awkward silence that had fallen over the two of them.

"I-I" Annabeth stuttered. Could it be… that he made her as nervous as she made him? "Thank you for not telling anyone."

"I would never do that Annabeth." He liked saying her name. It was unusual, yet smooth on his tongue. He had never met anyone named Annabeth. There were Annabells, and Annie's, but never Annabeth. That made her unique.

"Yeah." She replied. "Either way, I'm thankful."

The bell rang before Percy could say another word. He looked at his watch, and then turned back to Annabeth. "Bye. I'll see you tomorrow."

He walked away to his locker, and started to sort through his things.

"Hey Handsome." That was it. The signature perfume, the tap on the back. He turned around. It was Drew. "Who was that you were talking to?" She asked.

"Oh. Annabeth Chase." He said.

"Why were you talking to her?" She asked innocently. He knew that Drew would do no harm- hopefully, but he didn't want to tell her why. Even if he edited it to not give her identity away.

"Oh." Percy shrugged. "It was about a school assignment. We have a class together." He lied.

He was trying to look like it didn't matter. Like Annabeth didn't matter. But she did, obviously.

"Oh." Drew giggled. It was in a flirtatious way, and for a second, Percy felt guilty. He felt like he was leading her on. Sure, Drew had been rude to people in the past, but that was no excuse to lead her on.

"I have to get to class." He told her.

"Oh. Why don't I walk you?" She purred to him. He was so uncomfortable right now.

Percy laughed. "I'm capable of getting myself there."

"Just let me walk you." She snapped.

"Fine," Percy frowned. "Okay."

She grabbed onto his arm and led him to his class. Percy didn't even know how she knew where it was, but he had a few suspicions. On the way, he got some weird and congratulatory glances. He suspected that the people around him thought that they were dating.

He didn't care about what they thought. He cared about what Annabeth thought.

And there she was, several lockers away, looking at him, opened mouth, almost like she was in shock (Maybe? If Percy was being honest, she could just be yawning, but he preferred to think it was about him, it would give him another excuse to talk to her).

Either way, he wanted to talk to her, and this was the perfect excuse.

**Thank so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

He uncurled himself from Drew's grasp, and nodded goodbye. Once she was gone, had walked to her own class, he rushed over to Annabeth.

"Are you- are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." Annabeth shook her head and smiled. "I just- I'm really tired. I was just yawning."

"Oh." His subconscious was right. She was yawning.

Or maybe he wasn't well versed in Annabeth language, and he had led her on, just the way that he had led Drew on. The difference between her and Drew, was that he didn't _want _to lead Annabeth on. He wanted to actually get to know her.

"Drew and I… we aren't-" Maybe this wasn't the right thing to say. She probably didn't care.

"Yeah," Annabeth interrupted, "I know. I don't know why it matters to me."

"I thought… you looked…" Percy trailed off.

"Percy." She looked at him kindly. "It's fine." 

"Right." Percy said, looking at the door to his first period. "I have to go. But I'll see you?" He turned back.

"Sure." She responded, looking down at her shoes. He looked down too. They were green converse, with random sketches and doodles written over them. He looked closer, to see writing on them too. He looked closer. They almost seemed like… notes?

"Nice shoes." He said.

"That's a first. People mostly tell me they're weird."

"I think they're cool." Percy said. "Different, but cool." He walked away, looking back a tiny bit, a meeting her eyes one more time. His head got warm, and he slid his fingers through his hair.

Walking into class, he could feel everyone's eyes on him. It was like the minute he came in, all conversations faded. It was Percy Jackson, the most popular kid in the grade, and awesome mega-jock. Sometimes, he liked the attention, but other times, like now, he hated it.

Everything would be so much simpler if he wasn't the Captain of the swim team, or popular. It would make it much more normal for him to talk to Annabeth. He wouldn't have to make excuses, he wouldn't even have to acknowledge it.

Percy pulled out a piece of notebook paper from his binder, and set it on the desk along with a pencil.

As class started, he wrote down notes and listened- he had to get his grades up for swim team- to the teacher.

Even so, sometimes, when he looked down at his paper, he just saw blurred lines coming together- words he didn't understand and that didn't make sense together.

_Nothing _made sense about this class, he soon realized, as he was leaving the class. He had math next, which also made no sense, and because of that, his grades suffered.

School was important, even if only a small bit of Percy wanted to admit it. And if he wanted to pass these classes and get a swimming scholarship, he would have to get to work.

During lunch, Percy scanned the cafeteria for Annabeth. When his eyes finally rested on hers she was writing something in her notebook. Maybe it was the next chapter?

With a sudden surge of confidence, Percy walked toward her, sitting down across from her. She looked up, surprised at his appearance.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Does a _friend _not have a right to sit here?" He replied.

"We aren't friends" She grumbled. "Won't those cavemen over there, that are _really _your friends be annoyed?"

"No. They have no right to judge who I sit with or who I don't."

"Yeah." Somehow, her voice was softer now- kinder, like she was refreshed with a new air of confidence. He suddenly felt shy. He could feel his face heating up. "How are you?" She asked slowly, as if she was afraid of her own voice.

"I'm okay." He replied, looking down at his food. It was an effort to hide his blush- a failed one. He looked up. "I've told you this like ten times, but I really liked your chapter. I- I don't know why I'm now talking to you- but I've always…" His voice trailed off. "I've always noticed you." He winced at his words, realizing how cliche they were before he had started.

"Oh." They were both bright red then. "You come off as a jerk, Percy." He was surprised at these words. He thought they were having a moment- maybe she didn't care- maybe that was the wrong thing to say- "But, your different than I thought you were." She interrupted his conflicting thoughts.

"How so?" Percy asked.

"Well, for one, you have jerk friends."

That was fair. Sure, some of his friends were awesome people, but a lot of them came off as strong. So strong is was mean. "They come on a little strong." Percy chose his words carefully.

"Strong is a kind word to use." Annabeth replied. Percy guessed she was right, but he felt a big offended about her descriptions of his friends. They were his friends after all. Sure, they were jerks, but inside, most of them, were inherently good people.

When his mom was dating this guy named Gabe- who was abusive- his friends Connor and Travis let him stay at their house with their many siblings when he needed it.

When Percy broke his arm last year- three months before the biggest swimming competition of the year, his friend Leo helped him with physical therapy until his arm was ready to swim.

And lastly, his pal Jason Grace and him had work out sessions together three days a week.

Now, of course, other members of his friend groups were more problematic, but the ones really there for him were good.

After moments of silence, Percy spoke. "Not all of my friends are like that. I know there are a lot of ones that have been rude towards you, but not all of them are like that." 

"Sure." Annabeth rolled her eyes. Percy flinched and looked down. Did she really not understand what he was trying to say? "Oh!" Annabeth said, as if she sensed his disappointment. "I'm sorry. I was being insensitive. I'm sure your friends are good people. Just some… they clearly did not pass 'Manners school'"

Percy laughed, thinking about his… acquaintance Octavian. He was a knucklehead, an idiot, and evil simultaneously.

They continued on with their conversation for the rest of Lunch. Percy steered clear of serious topics- like Gabe, and his friends treatment of Annabeth. It would be something they would have to confront later, but not now. It felt nice to talk to someone- someone who didn't know about his screwed up life. The money problem- the grades problem- the hope that something would change.

He felt secure for the first time in a while. He was talking to a person- who hopefully liked him.

Because he sure liked her.

**Thank so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

***ominous music***

**What do you think is going to happen next?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello all! Thanks so much for your support on my story. Here's the next chapter:**

Annabeth had a decision to make. Well- not a decision persay, but something to think about.

She was getting distracted with this thing- that thing being Percy. During her free period, she had planned to work on more character designs, but she barely got the inking of one done. She had wanted to finish a complete drawing, and then map out the next couple chapters, but alas, her stupid brain would not let her.

And it was because of Percy. They had bumped into each other again, right before her free period, and they'd walked together. Even though she was home now, on her bed, doing homework, she could remember the entire interaction. It was like at lunch- they hadn't talked about anything deep, and the bantering they had was almost natural. It felt like she had known Percy for a long time.

So, because of that, she had spent her entire free period analyzing the conversation, hoping she had said the right things.

That conversation was the first time she had laughed- to something not online- in a while. It was the first time she had laughed at someone for saying something funny to her- only to her.

_God, why did this have to seem all cliche? _ In her story, she had made an effort to make sure everything was original, and that was what people liked about it. It was unique.

But this… this didn't seem unique. The nerdy, unpopular, girl who needs a book to save herself from every interaction and the popular jock who everyone was practically _begging _to be friends with. That seemed like every other romance.

However cliche it was, in Annabeth's head, she kept trying to make out solutions on how it would work. Because, maybe, possibly, hopefully it would?

And this was the reason she didn't get anything done during the free period. This circle of thought. It would just go back to the same thing.

Her phone buzzed with a notification. She checked the time on her watch, and _really, had it been that long? _

It was a message from Reyna, telling her that several new purchases were made on the merch store, adding about 100 dollars to her bank account. Soon, Rachel joined the conversation. It started out as purely business like, but soon, they were discussing each other's day, at least, so far.

The message thread read like a novel- everyone knew exactly what to say at the right time. They exchanged jokes, had fun, talked about Annabeth's story.

"So there's this guy,"Annabeth wrote, she always told her friends everything. It was natural. _"And I think that I might like him. And I think maybe he likes me."_

She was flooded with responses from both of them almost immediately. "Oh my god,"Rachel wrote,"Annie's finally getting a social life!"

"Tell us everything_,_"Reyna said. And of course, she had to. Reyna and Rachel wouldn't stop bothering her until she did.

"Well, he's the most popular guy at school."Annabeth typed, blushing at her phone. "He accidentally read through my notebook and found my story."

"Okay…"Rachel wrote.

"I caught him, and for the last couple of days we've been talking a lot. He said he really liked my story."

"That's awesome Annie!"Rachel wrote back. "But be careful, okay. I've had experience with popular dudes. They can be… idiots."

Annabeth frowned at her phone. "I'm well aware of that Rachel. Anyway, I gotta go."

She set her phone down, and threaded her hands through her long blonde curls. Was Rachel right? Would Percy be just messing with her. He seemed guinea, but then again, that's just what guys did sometimes. They were nice, made themselves seem like they actually felt something for you, and then broke your heart.

Maybe she should be more defensive, but to Percy, she felt like she just wanted to keep getting to know him- talking to him.

Maybe Rachel was right, but Annabeth would find that out for herself. For now, she would be a little cautious, but wouldn't let herself jump to conclusions. Guys were idiots, but Percy didn't seem like all guys. He seemed like someone she could trust.

Someone present. Someone that seemed like they actually cared.

She got up from her bed, stomach rumbling. _I need something to eat, _She decided, and stretched her arms. At the sight of her two step brothers, Bobby and Matthew, she groaned.

It was rude, but they were rude.

No, it was her fault she didn't have a good relationship with them. They were only seven, after all. Just, Annabeth couldn't stand the idea that her father had buckled down and had kids only _four years _after Annabeth's mother had died. _His wife. _

Her mother died when she was six, and four years later, Matthew and Bobby were born. Maybe she was being unreasonable, but her _mother had died. _She was gone.

And the more Annabeth thought about, the more messed up it felt. She had known her mother for less time then she had mourned her.

That's what you do for parents. You love them unconditionally. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't openly admit she loved Helen, her stepmother.

Helen was perfect in everyway. And that was probably because she had to be. As a lawyer, and as a woman, all the men in her profession were basically waiting for her to make a mistake. Annabeth respected her perfection.

But she couldn't bring herself to like Helen. Helen was just always so critical of her every move.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't please her. It didn't matter that her story had millions of people reading it. She wanted to be a writer, and as Helen said, "Writers don't earn money, creativity will get you nowhere in this world."

"But it will for me!" Annabeth had said, when Helen had first told her this.

Helen had taken a sip of her martini and laughed, shaking her head. "So naive," she'd clucked.

Annabeth had wanted to rip her ears out when she heard that. Maybe she was naive, but she wasn't dumb. She was intelligent enough to know that authors didn't earn a lot of money, but that didn't mean she'd stop.

She was already earning a steady revenue from the merch store, hosted by both Reyna, and the app she was publishing on. She had established herself, so millions of readers would know about her stories.

She was going to go far, she knew, she just had to get through this awful high school life.

**Thanks so much for reading this chapter! Have a nice morning/evening/afternoon!**


	8. Chapter 8

Annabeth recomposed herself, and smiled down at Bobby and Matthew. They were kids after all, and Annabeth loved them. They could be annoying sometimes, but over the past seven years, she'd gotten to know just how brilliant they could be.

Even Helen, who she had gotten off on the wrong foot with was okay. They'd gotten accustomed to each other, and sometimes, even Annabeth's resentment of her would slowly fade away.

"Hey Annie! Look at my truck!" Matthew squealed, showing off, of course, a bright green truck. Annabeth laughed.

"That's a nice truck Matthew. Does it have a name?"

"What?" Bobby screeched from behind him. "Trucks don't have names." He wrinkled his nose. "We only name stuffed animals."

Obviously. Annabeth smiled.

"Right, right, how could I have been so dumb?"

"Oh Annie, your not dumb!" Matthew replied, smiling up at her.

Annabeth kneeled down and put her fist out for him to bump. "Thanks Matthew." He looked at the fist, and then slowly curled his own tiny hand into one, bumping hers respectively.

"I wanna do that too!" Bobby made a fist with his hand, and put it out to her. Annabeth bumped his, and then got up.

"I have to go make my dinner, but I'm sure Hel- er, mommy-" Annabeth corrected herself. When she was talking to the twins, she always referred to Helen as "Mommy" which was what they saw her as. She had before tried to call Helen "mom" but it never completely worked. It always made her feel guilt, which she continuously told herself was unnecessary. Annabeth continued on with her sentence: "Will make you guys some food."

"Okay Annie!" The boys chorused, and Annabeth walked down the stairs, and then towards the kitchen. Before she entered the room, she took a deep breath to calm her senses down.

The only way to describe the kitchen was inconspicuously normal- the type of normal that didn't reach you first. Everything looked modern and new, but once you lived there, it seemed extremely boring.

The only slightly personalized places of the house were the bedrooms. It was almost a miracle. With seven year olds running around all over the place _every single second of the day _the idea that play-doe was not smeared across the walls was amazing. The house was always clean- and yes, of course, Annabeth liked clean- but this seemed suspicously clean.

"Hey dad." Annabeth said to her father, who was puttering around the kitchen for what seemed like nothing. They really never ate dinner together, and Annabeth at this point, didn't even know why they had a large dining table in the room next door.

"Annabeth! How was your day?"

"Normal." Annabeth said, pulling a tangerine out from a fruit bowl and picking at the skin.

"Really?" Her father raised his eyebrows. "Nothing new?"

"Yeah. Hey- is Helen making food for the boys later?"

Her father raised one of his eyebrows. "Yeah. She said she'd make them grilled cheese or something. That show they like is on, so she said they could have a T.V dinner."

"Okay." Annabeth put a thumb up. "Sounds good. How was your day?"

"Well- Helen and I were thinking about having a game night some time this week." An olive branch. This happened every once and a while. Annabeth would like it, if there was some actual follow through, but what always happened, was that her father would suggest something, and it would never really happen. "You could invite your friends," her dad continued, "it wouldn't just be a family thing, you know?"

"I don't…" Annabeth didn't want to tell him she didn't really have friends. That would just make him sad. She didn't want him to feel sad. "That sounds fun." She finished.

"Yeah. It could be a whole thing." Her father smiled.

"Sure. Sounds fun." Annabeth split the now open tangerine in half, eating the individual slices. "Do we have any frozen burritos?" She said, after finishing the orange.

"Oh." He laughed. "Yeah. We have one left. But anyway, are there projects, assignments, exciting things coming up?"

Annabeth finished fishing the last burrito from the fridge, and turned around, walking to the microwave. "Not really." She placed the burrito in and turned it on. "Just my writing stuff."

"Oh," Her father raised his eyebrows. "Your mysterious 'writing stuff,' when are we going to see that anyway?"

Hopefully never, Annabeth thought in her head. "Not until I'm ready."

Annabeth didn't think she'd ever be ready. She would never want her dad to read her work, knowing it was hers. She appreciated the anonymity of everything. It gave her the chance to express her thoughts in a way that no one could directly judge her for.

Her father never _pushed _her to show him her work, which was good, but everytime he asked her about it, she was left feeling guilty about her response.

"Okay." her father said cheerfully. "Helen and I are going to talk logistics of game night" He continued. "We really do want to do this." He looked serious now. "I know that whenever we've made plans like this, they usually fall back, but not this time."

Annabeth nodded. Her father left the room, holding a banana in his left hand, which she chose not to question. He looked incredibly determined, like a soldier going to war, which she had to stifle a laugh at.

The microwave beeped, and she took her burrito out, adding cheese, salsa, sour cream and hot sauce to the top of it. Once it was finished, she took it to the counter, and ate by herself, just as she had been doing since the start of high school.

This was normal, right?

Sure, her version of normal was entirely subjective, but that didn't matter. Annabeth was always lonely, and just because she had suddenly met some _boy, _didn't mean anything was going to change. She was just going to keep eating dinner alone.

She stabbed the burrito with her fork, and put a small piece of it she had secured in her mouth.

For some reason, it tasted staler than before.

**Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed! **

**I've been feeling kind of sick, but I'll try to update again in the next three days. **


	9. Chapter 9

Percy hated homework. It was something, as a high schooler, that was inevitable, but truly, he despised it, more than the average person should.

Also, as an athlete, with swim practice four days a week and meets once, it was in no way something he could do in a jiffy.

The only day homework was okay, was Tuesday, because he didn't have practice that day. But Tuesday had passed, and Percy homework was something in his inevitable future.

Percy's arms sliced through the water, pushing him forward and submerging themselves through the water and he felt himself relax. The water always helped him. It always gave him peace. The water couldn't hurt him. It never had, and it never would.

Whenever he was swimming, he felt at home, and because of that, during meets, competitions, practices, he seemed to be the only one on the team who was fully relaxed. The meets and competitions didn't bother him, not just because everyone knew he would place, but because of the relaxation he was given whenever he was in the water.

He opened his eyes, and saw the wall, only feet away from him. In one fluid motion, he spun around, and kicked off, resuming his freestyle. He came up for air, breathing a fresh relief. He could stay underwater for a pretty long time, but with the added exhaust of swimming, he only seemed to be able to for a full lap.

The specks of water flying out from under his arms glimmered, and as he went back down, he observed the mass of tiny bubbles coming out from all around him. Once he had reached the opposite side, he heard his coach call out to switch strokes.

As the swimmers in other lanes switched positions in the water, Percy pushed off, relaxed, turning his freestyle into breaststroke.

He bobbed up and down in the water, not thinking about anything in particular- until the coach told everyone to switch strokes once more, resulting in him changing to Butterfly.

Once practice was over, he went to the locker rooms, and dried off. Changing into his clothes, he started to make his way out the door, until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around, swinging a bunch of water from his wet hair at the person behind him. More water dripped from his hair, which was really hard to get dry. "Sorry man." He said.

A laugh. "It's okay Perce." It was Leo. "I was just wondering why you weren't at lunch."

"I was hanging out with another friend of mine." More water dripped from his hair, onto the shorter boy. He attempted to dry it off with his tower, but alas, no luck.

"Oh. That clears a lot of things up." Leo looked around nervously. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Percy smiled. "Thanks Leo." He said. Leo was cool. He liked Mechanics and Engineering. He met Leo last year, when they had to work on an assignment together. They were on the same swim team- but they never really talked. Then, last year, they became really good friends, and Leo had helped him with his broken arm.

"No problem waterboy. Have a nice evening, flirt with some ladies for me." Leo raised his eyebrows twice, and Percy laughed. Leo was always like this- taking things seriously, until they weren't. He was good at lightening the mood.

"Bye." Percy said, and exited the school.

It was brisk outside- not to cold, not warm, just in the middle. Still, to Percy's wet skin, it was freezing. He shivered, and ran his hands through his hair. Cold.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, and checked for any texts. There were a couple from scattered friends, which Percy read and quickly responded to. He put his phone back into his pocket, and began to make his way home.

The journey wasn't long, but because of the impending concept of homework, he tried to drag it out as long as possible. He walked in slow motion to his house, which was only a mile away from the school.

He took his time reaching into his pocket and receiving the house keys. He then slowly opened the door, and walked into the house.

"Hey mom, I'm home!" He said upon his arrival to the house, and set his keys down on the coffee table.

"Hey Perce." His mother called from the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes."

"Okay. I'll be in my room doing homework." Percy called after her, and headed to his room.

Hey set his bag down, and pulled out his homework. Today, at least, there wasn't as much work. He could probably finish it in thirty minutes if he was fast.

He quickly scrawled his name across the assignments given, and began to work on them individually. He answered the questions to the best of his ability, and once finished, he checked his watch, seeing thirty minutes had passed.

His mom hadn't called him for dinner yet, so he decided to check his phone for any new notifications.

He pulled it out of his pocket, and turned it on scratching the back of his neck, and looking down at the several notifications showing. He logged into the phone, and scrolled through them, pausing as he saw one from the app Annabeth posted her story on.

He opened the app, and looked at the notifications. To his disappointment, it was only a welcome message.

Great.

And now his mother was calling him for dinner. He set his phone down on the nightstand, and went to the dining room.

His mother was putting Mac and Cheese on the table, and setting plates and utensils out. She finally settled into her seat, as did Percy.

Percy looked over at the food, and then to his empty plate. He served himself food and then relaxed in his chair.

"Mom?" He asked, and her eyes went from her fork to him.

She cleared her throat. "Yes Percy?"

"So, there's this girl," This might be something abstract to other teenagers- but Percy was a self-proclaimed mama's boy. He told his mother everything… except when he didn't. But, most of the time, he asked her for advice, and told her what was happening with his life.

"I couldn't have guessed." His mother was grinning now. "What's her name?" She asked.

Percy hesitated. "Annabeth." he said. "Annabeth Chase."

"That's a nice name. I haven't heard 'Annabeth' before. Annabelle, but not Annabeth." She smiled. "Was she what got you smiling the other day?"

"Yeah." Percy replied. "She's also the author of the book I told you I liked."

"Wow. She must be a pretty good author."

Percy nodded. "I was just wondering… how do I let her know I like her?"

His mother paused for a second, seeming to think about it. "I don't know." She finally said. "I think that's something you need to figure out yourself." 

_Maybe, _Percy thought. _Or maybe, I could just outright tell her, it's probably the most effective way. _

But how would she react? They'd only been talking for a couple of days, and Percy didn't want to scare her. He should ease into it, slowly.

Yeah, that's what he would do.

**Thank so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Please read the authors note at the end of this chapter!  
**

"Hey," Percy said as he put his stuff down, across from the seat Annabeth was sitting. It was Friday, finally, and he was gearing up for the weekend. Nothing exciting was happening this week in particular, but next weekend, he remembered, was Drew's party.

Well, he hadn't remembered. Drew had posted everywhere on social media the date. Whenever she had big parties like this, it appeared everywhere. Her parties were always big, crazy, and booze-filled.

He remembered the last party of her he had gone to. It was at her parents' lakehouse, which was about seven miles away. The lake was gorgeous, and Percy remembered, at one point, just starting out, looking at all of the nature around him.

"Hey." Annabeth looked up, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, I'm sitting down with a friend." He smirked, and sank down onto the uncomfortable wooden bench attached to the table. This was the second day he did this. He didn't plan to sit down next to her, really, but it just happened. In fact, he thought he was just walking over to his regular table, like normal, but he found himself drifting towards Annabeth.

"What about your other friends?" She asked, clearly still perplexed about why he was sitting with her, again.

_I like you, _He almost wanted to say outright, but stopped himself. Now was not the time.

"It seems like this conversation always comes up when I sit her." Percy said. "I have the freedom to sit wherever I want to sit."

"I'm not sure it's explicitly said that way, considering the high school hierarchy, but whatever you say buddy." Annabeth replied.

Percy laughed. He didn't remember ever seeing this side of her before. Sure, he had seen her sarcastic, and even sometimes friendly, but she this time it was outright humor. Could she be warming up to him?

"Right, of course." Percy said, raising an eyebrow. "I totally understand every word you just said there."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Those weren't even extremely complicated words. Keep saying that, and you'll live up to the 'dumb jock' expectation."

Percy tilted his head at her. "That's not an expectation, it's a stereotype Annabeth."

"I understand that," She continued, "But when you think about it, it becomes something you see so common, that you expect it."

"I guess so." Percy said. "But you wouldn't know."

"Why? Because I'm a 'nerd'?" She used air quotes.

"No…" Percy stuttered. "Well, yes, but when you put it that way-"

"It sounds incredibly rude." She cut him off. "It's fine." She continued. "I know that in societies eyes, I'm considered a nerd."

"Obviously, your much more than that." Percy said, and noticed her blushing.

"Thanks Percy." It felt nice to hear her say his name. "That means a lot to me. I haven't really had anyone say that to me."

Percy grinned. Maybe he was getting somewhere. Maybe he wasn't facing unrequited feelings after all.

No, he reminded himself, don't jump to conclusions. That only lead to unnecessarily high expectations, which he could not afford.

If he wanted Annabeth to like him, and to trust him. He didn't want to become the type of people he despised- players who would take any girl thrown at them, and then break their hearts. Not everyone was like that, but those types of people existed.

"Well," Percy finally decided on saying. "It's true."

She smiled again, and Percy felt a little tug in his heart. He really liked her smile. It was faint, but genuine.

They continued on, talking, with the level of caution, and not mentioning any serious things. They carefully avoided saying anything about their personal lives, and bantered, sharing stories, and jokes.

Lunch soon finished, and when they parted, Percy was left feeling a bit warmer than he had before. Maybe opening Annabeth's notebook wasn't the best thing to do, but he was glad he did it. If he hadn't, he probably wouldn't be in this situation.

Percy went through his next classes, with a good overall attitude. It was Friday, after all, and with the overwhelming feelings he was experiencing with Annabeth, added with the satisfaction that he had completed an entire week of school, everything seemed a little brighter.

Some of his teammates caught up with him, as he was gathering his stuff from his locker. They followed him, chatting. Percy put his earbuds in, and started to listen to music.

The music played, and he walked mindlessly along with the people around him, nodding his head to the beat. He soon, almost forgot were he was, and suddenly, slammed into a person. "Oh!" He said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." The person replied, who he soon realized was Annabeth. "It seems like the third time I've said this, but we keep meeting in situations like this."

Percy laughed. "Yeah."

He turned to his peers, and gauged their reactions. Some of them were surprised, others were smirking, and some were laughing.

Annabeth walked past them, to one of the park benches the school kept on the sides.

"Hey," One of the kids walking with him remarked. "What the heck Percy?" The kid smirked. "I didn't know you were friends with Annabeth Chase."

"Were not-" He stopped himself. If he said something like that, it would only get worse. "Yeah." He responded. "I am."

"Ooohhh…" Another teammate, a kid named Sherman Yang replied.

Percy rolled his eyes. "You guys go on without me. I'll catch up with you at practice."

"See you there!" Several kids chorused.

"Bye Percy," Others said.

The crowd slowly crept away, talking and exchanging stories. Percy watched as they disappeared around the corner, to the swimming pool, and then turned to see Annabeth, sitting on a park bench, legs crossed, staring down at her notebook, and scrawling words on the pages.

Percy walked up to her. "Hey," He said, and she looked up.

"Hey" She replied, not looking surprised at his appearance.

"Are you waiting for someone?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. My stepmom," Annabeth elaborated.

Oh. This was new. Percy didn't know her parents were divorced. He looked at the expression on her face, a mix of resolve and dissatisfaction. He decided he shouldn't ask about it.

"Do you mind if I hang out with you until she comes?" Percy was already setting his backpack down next to her.

Annabeth shrugged. "It's a free country." She said.

"Right." Percy said. He shifted his weight onto the right side of his body, leaning closer to see what Annabeth was writing. She smelled like fresh lemons, and pencil sharpenings.

And then she pulled the notebook away. "No spoilers." She said, almost playfully, and motioned towards Percy's phone, which was lying on his upper leg. "Do your phone stuff." She said, and covered her notebook up.

Percy turned to his phone, though not fully. He periodically glanced to see what she was doing.

Annabeth was wearing a gray beanie, which brought out the color of her eyes. Her blonde ringless splayed out from the hat, and covered parts of her face. She was looking intently at the pages of her notebook, writing things down- which Percy couldn't decipher from the angle he was at.

Time passed quickly, and soon, Percy and Annabeth looked up to the honk of a horn. The car in front of them, was a red convertible, and a woman, who looked like she was in her late forties, rolled down the window.

The women was like the anti- Annabeth. She had straight, red hair, and was wearing a glamorous top. Along with that, she was wearing sunglasses inside. That definitely made her points drop down on the scale for Percy. "Annabeth!" The women shouted. "I'm here."

"I see that Helen." Annabeth rolled her eyes and closed her notebook. "Bye Percy," she whispered to him, and got up from her seat.

As Annabeth was getting into the car, Percy noticed her Step-mom- the presumed Helen, saying something additionally to Annabeth.

He noticed a resigned look came over her face, as she walked back to Percy.

"So, apparently," Annabeth started as she approached Percy. "I have no social life, and since Helen saw you with me, because it's such a crazy thing I'm talking to an attractive boy, and was wondering if you wanted to come to game night. It's tonight, and no pressure." Annabeth looked down at her shoes. "Just letting you know, I realize this is weird. That's just how Helen is."

Percy stood, blinking, processing what she was saying. "You think I'm attractive?" He finally said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously." She shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Well, yeah." Percy replied. He wasn't being cocky, it was true. "But it matters more when you say it."

Annabeth went red, and Percy felt himself warming up to. "So, anyway, is that a yes or a no?"

"I have swim practice, but sure. Could I get your number?" Smooth Percy, he told himself. Smooth.

"Sure." She said, and relayed it to him. "I guess I'll see you there.'

"I'll see you there," Percy replied, smiling.

**Hey guys! I planned to finish this up yesterday, but life got in the way of things. Anyway, **_**please**_** check my profile for information about updates during the holiday season! After those couple weeks of craziness are over, I am going to implement an update schedule, which is also on my profile!**

**Also, thanks so much for the support on my story! I truly appreciate every favorite, follow and review. Because this is the 10th chapter, I have one quick question!**

**What do you think of the story so far? What do you think the future of it will hold?**

**Again, thanks so much for the support, and I hope all of you have a happy holiday!**


	11. Chapter 11

As Annabeth got into the car, and buckled her seat belt, she took out her phone, and saw a text from an unknown number. "Hi, this is Percy." It read.

She quickly put his number into her contacts, and then looked over at Helen, who was also looking down at her own phone, scrolling through a news article.

"Percy can come." Annabeth said, creating the beginnings of a conversation. "He has swim practice- he's the captain of the swim team, so he might be a little late."

Helen set her phone down and smiled. "That's wonderful Annabeth. Now," She continued. "Tell me about him. How did you get a guy like him?"

Annabeth's face hardened. "What do you mean by that?"

Helen's face morphed into the type of expression you'd see someone who was trying to cover up the fact that they said something rude. "Well," Helen pursed her lips. "What I meant was that, you two seem…"

"He seems more popular than me." Annabeth interrupted, "Yeah, I know. But somehow we're friends." She rolled her eyes.

Helen caught her and frowned. "Don't speak to me like that young lady. Tonight's game night, and I hope you'll be civil."

"I'm always civil," Annabeth muttered under her breath. "Silently civil. I won't be a jerk."

"Okay. Then that's settled," Helen stopped at a red light. "Tell me about him, Percy, I mean."

This was weird. Was Helen actually… trying to learn more about her social life. She usually never cared about what happened. Now, granted, Annabeth didn't have much of a social life at all, but either way, it was a strange concept to her, having someone ask her how she felt about someone.

"He's nice." She said, and left it at that. Helen kept driving.

"You said he's a part of the swim team?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. He is."

"When did you meet?" She prodded on. Annabeth sighed. She would just have to deal with answering all these questions. She wasn't used to talking to Helen like this.

"I've known him since he moved in, when I was in middle school. We just started talking Tuesday."

"That's nice. He seems like a nice boy." Helen pulled into the driveway of their home. "Handsome too."

There was no doubt about that. Percy was the type of handsome that attracted everyone toward him. With jet black hair, that was always messy, bright green eyes, tanned skin, and a toned body. Annabeth nodded in response. "Very." She replied.

Helen opened the door of the house, and Annabeth walked in. The house was decorated with bright decorations, obviously for game night. Annabeth couldn't believe they actually pulled it off. She didn't think that they would have the time to decorate, cook, and send invitations.

But according to Helen, several neighborhood families were coming, and several of her coworkers.

And then there was Percy. She took a deep breath. That might take some preparation.

But first, she had to make sure that everything in her story was updated. She had a specific area of her phone, were everything was timelined. She clicked onto the record, and began to read what she should complete today.

It simply said: "Start revising newest written chapter." Annabeth put down her phone. That usually didn't take long, especially when she had four days, including weekends, to finish revising everything.

She looked through the chapter, catching small spelling and grammar mistakes, and correcting as quickly as she could. Looking down at her watch, the time read four forty five. That was usually when after school activities went out, meaning Percy was leaving the school right now. It also meant that she had two full hours to get ready before the dinner party began.

She started by taking a shower, and washing the disgusting aroma of "high school" off of her. It was a mix of sweat from gym, BO from the guys who flooded the hallways, and dust, from the mopped floors.

She stepped out of the shower, and dried herself off, going to her dresser, and pulling the top drawer open, which contained shirts. She picked out one which she had gotten last year, but had never gotten to wear yet.

The shirt was gray, and fitted so that it shaped in the size of her body. It was shorter than the other ones she usually wore, which was the main reason why she didn't wear it. But, since it was the first nice, unwrinkled shirt she saw in the drawer, she put it on.

She moved to the next drawer, and pulled out a pair of jeans, which Annabeth sniffed. They were clean, without tears, and presentable enough for Helen not to make a comment. Well, Helen had never made a comment about what Annabeth wore per say, Annabeth had never really paid attention to clothes, except during the times she actually had to put something nice together. Helen obviously wanted to make a good impression on the neighbors, so now was the time to look nice.

She applied a thin layer of clear lipstick to her lips, which she only worn on special occasions, and put her long, curly locks up into a ponytail, with strands sticking out on the sides. She looked in the mirror and smiled. Helen would approve this, and as Annabeth thought about it, she didn't look too bad.

She opened her phone, to a notifications from her messenger app, and saw that it was from Percy.

"Hey, what time is this thing again?" It said, and Annabeth grinned as she typed a response.

"6:30," She replied, "But really, anytime between that at 7:30 is fine."

"Oh, okay," Came his next reply.

Annabeth switched off her phone, and fell backfirst onto her bed. She smiled like an idiot, convincing herself that she didn't know why. But she did.

It was because of Percy.

Percy was different than she expected. He was nicer, and although Annabeth was still a tiny bit guarded towards him, when talking about serious subjects like her family situation, she felt relaxed when she was around him. She felt like she could trust him, and that was a feeling she hadn't felt in a while.

Sure, she could trust Reyna and Rachel, but they lived in different places, on the other sides of the war. She needed someone immediate, close to her that she could count on, and Percy felt like a perfect candidate.

_Right, _she thought, _Reyna and Rachel. I should probably text them._

Yes, she had talked to them yesterday, she made sure she talked to them everyday with updates on the book, and just about life, but she hadn't today.

She logged onto the app, starting the conversation by asking about any updates on the merch store.

Reyna quickly replied, despite the time zone problem, telling her everything was accounted for. Rachel soon got on additionally, and they talked about life. Reyna talked about her upcoming exam, while Rachel complained even more about Luke, her boyfriend.

"You should really break up with him," Annabeth typed and sent.

"I know. He's a jerk, but I'd also worried about him. He's misunderstood." Rachel replied.

Annabeth could smell bullshit. She and Reyna talked to Rachel more about how she was in a toxic relationship, and needed to let go of him. She checked her watch, which now read five thirty.

Wow, time had gone by faster than she had thought. She sent Reyna and Rachel a "goodbye" message, and then put her phone in her back pocket, heading down the steps to were Helen and her father were, putting the food they had cooked out.

Bobby and Matthew were running around hysterically, as her father tried to get them into one place, and presentable. Annabeth laughed. Bobby's shirt was wrinkled, and Matthew had yet to button his up. They really were awesome kids.

She joined her father, and helped round them up, but it was useless. The most presentable they could get them, was with the shirts buttoned up (but wrinkled), and an ominous stain tracking from the top of Bobby's pants, to the bottom.

As they settled down, and waited for guest to arrive, Annabeth found herself checking her phone more and more incessantly, waiting for a text to pop up. Nothing ever did.

An Hour later, the guests began to arrive, and whenever the doorbell rang, Annabeth found herself springing to her feet to answer it. She noticed her father and Helen exchanging looks, about her behavior, but Annabeth just ignored it and shook her head.

At seven o'clock, the doorbell rang once more, after a pause of arrival. Like all the other times, Annabeth sprung up from her seat to check it. She opened the door smiling, to see Percy, in a button down shirt, and jeans, holding a bunch of flowers in his hand.

He looked adorable. And he was blushing. "I brought flowers," he said, gesturing to the ones he held in one hand.

Annabeth snapped out of the trance she had been in, looking him up and down head to toe. "Thanks so much!" She said. "Come on in. We have food, and games on the dining table."

Percy headed into the house, trailing Annabeth from behind.

**Hey guys! This is my first post on the story of the holiday season, and (probably) my last. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and be prepared for a normal and less erratic updating process during the New Year! **

**If you are looking for something else to read, holiday related, be sure to check out the newest one-shot I posted, entitled: "Maybe we Crashed, but we Didn't Burn."**

**So far, what is your favorite part of the story? Which chapter do you like the most?**

**Thanks so much for the support, and I hope you all have a lovely holiday season!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long break, I was on vacation, but now I'm back! For more information about updates, see my profile!**

Percy set down the flowers he had brought, and Annabeth signaled him over to her parents. She noticed him straightening his tie as he trailed behind her, finally settling next to her.

"Hey dad, this is Percy," she said to her father, and then nodded to Helen. "You met him already, sort of."

"Hello Percy. My name is Fredrick. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too sir," Percy replied, looking surprisingly nervous.

"There are games on the coffee table and several other places, and please," Her dad looked at the table full of food on the kitchen table, "Help yourself to some food."

"Of course sir," Percy nodded, and glanced over at Annabeth. "Would you like to find a game to play?" He asked.

"Sure," Annabeth replied, and they walked towards the coffee table. She gazed over the mass of games, trying to pinpoint one they could play together. "How do you feel about checkers?" She said finally, pulling it out of the stack.

Percy thought about it for a second. "I've played it before. Better that than chess."

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth laughed. "For your information, I like chess. It's an admirable game."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you would."

"What does that mean?" Annabeth replied, narrowing her eyes playfully.

"Well," Percy said, "Your smart." He continued plainly. "Chess is a game smart people play."

Annabeth laughed again. "If you get a strategy, a good one at that, it doesn't matter who you are, or how smart you are."

Percy looked at her thoughtfully, and took the checkers from her hand. "Let's play." He said.

Percy set the game down at an empty spot near the coffee table. He then speed walked over to the food table, and brought back a bowl of chips. "Rations," He explained, and set the bowl down.

Annabeth smiled at him, a genuine, whole smile, and started to pick the pieces of the game out, ordering them one by one on her side of the game. The small red checker pieces she had chosen lined up neatly, and as she looked at Percy's, she laughed again, his were all out of order- they were in the incorrect places.

And, as a decent human being, she took the liberty of first, staring him down, and second, rearranging the pieces he had already put down in the wrong area. As Percy saw her doing this, he pulled his hands away from the board, out in the air with the palms facing her.

She finished rearranging the pieces, and then cracked her knuckles. "Wow," Percy said. "I don't have any chance in winning this game, do I?" 

Annabeth simply smiled and looked down at the game pieces. "We will see."

"Okay, first the knuckle cracking was menacing, and those words?" Percy looked down at the checkerboard as if it was going to bite him. "Even more."

Well, Annabeth _was_ exceptionally good at checkers. But that wasn't the type of thing that you'd tell your opponent. You'd let them underestimate you, and then attack quickly. Of course, the only part about this match that was different, was that Percy did not underestimate her. She smiled again, giving no hints away, and moving her red piece forward.

Percy moved his piece forward, and they began to play the game, chatting in between turns. By the end of it, Percy had lost, and Annabeth had won, just as both parties knew.

"How'd you get so good at checkers?" Percy asked as he was returning the game to the coffee table just a few feet away from them.

Annabeth took a chip from the now scarce bowl. She bit into it and then swallowed. "I don't know. I've always been good at strategy games. I wouldn't say it comes naturally, but I've always been good at planning stuff out. That what these types of games are about. You have to predict the next move the player is going to make, and match that move before they've even made it."

"I guess." Percy said. "I mean, I'm not really great at planning things ahead. My only real plan for college is the swimming thing. I need to get a swimming scholarship."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

Percy sighed. "Well, my grades aren't good enough for an academic scholarship, and there is _no _way I can pay tuition without some help."

"Oh." Annabeth felt bad. Sure, she had her family troubles, but she always knew that they would have the money for college. "I'm sorry." She replied.

Percy sighed again, and spoke, this time sounding more resolved. "Yeah, but I could have worked harder, you know? I could have made more of an effort with my grades. Even so, I don't know how much it would help. I really suck at a lot of those subjects." He laughed, and Annabeth tried to ignore the overall feeling of sadness within it. From his body language, and the overall looks of this conversation, she realized this was something he didn't want to talk about.

"You didn't know." She said, and left it at that.

Percy shook his head, and looked at the game table. "Do you want to pick out another game?"

Annabeth glanced at her watch. It had only been thirty minutes, leaving them at seven thirty. There was about an hour left in the get together, so she nodded. "Yeah. You can choose, since I chose last time."

Percy smiled, and then picked out Apples to Apples. "Do you want to see if your brothers want to play with us? I think it's a four player game."

"How'd you know I have siblings?"

Laughing, Percy explained: "I saw them, here. They look a lot like you're dad, so I just assumed."

"Correctly," Annabeth replied, and pointed at the two boys, who were unceremoniously shoving potato chips into their mouths. "I'll go get them."

She walked over to where they stood, and smiled down at them. "Hey," She said. "Do you want to play a game with Percy and I?"

Bobby paused between chips. "Whose Percy?" He asked.

"My friend." Annabeth turned around a pointed. "He's standing right there."

Matthew swallowed one last chip, and nodded his head. "I wanna play!" He said gleefully.

Bobby clapped his hands together. "Me too!" He added on.

They soon found themselves in a fierce round of apples to apples, where in the end, Bobby and Matthew tied. They both demanded a reward, and Annabeth told them they could have extra candy with their deserts.

Game night was soon over, and Annabeth found herself saying goodbye to Percy.

"I had a lot of fun." Percy said, smiling at her. "You have a great family."

Debatable. "Yeah, I guess. I had fun too Percy. Thanks for coming." Annabeth replied. They stood across from each other, and Annabeth instinctively scratched the back of her neck. Blushing, she waved one last time, saying "goodbye," to which Percy replied the same thing. She closed the door behind her, and leaned against.

It had been a good night. And she did have a lot of fun. More fun then she'd had in a while, in truth.

**Thanks so much for reading! I'm sorry for the long wait, but please bear with me with this new update schedule. Normal updates will resume next week.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What's your favorite part so far? Are there any character cameos that you'd like to see?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!**

"Hey." It was Monday, and the weekend had past. Annabeth hadn't heard from Percy since the party, apart from a "good night, sweet dreams" text he'd sent. Annabeth had smiled at her phone, and hugged it to her chest when she read that.

Her weekend had gone by normally. She worked on editing the couple of chapters she had already finished, and drew out some sketches of scenes in the book. Annabeth had always admired beautiful architecture, and because her story changed settings quite frequently, in her art, she was able to design the infrastructure and buildings her characters were placed near.

She'd also hung out with Bobby and Matthew, and worked on her homework, like a normal weekend. She helped clean up the remains of board games, food, and other questionable objects around the floor from game-night, while at that time, she was still reminiscing of her time with Percy.

"Annabeth?" Percy's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Right. She tilted her head to look up at him, and smiled.

"Percy," she said. "Hey. What are you doing here?" Here, meaning the lunch table. Annabeth knew that this question was now overused, but at this point it was basically tradition.

Percy winked. "You know why I am." He said, and sat down across from her. "What's up?" He asked, after a couple seconds of silence.

"I'm doing okay." Annabeth replied. "I had a pretty normal weekend. What about you?"

"It was fine." Percy sighed. "I swam a lot, did a lot of studying. It was normal too."

"So not super productive?" Annabeth deplored.

"I guess so." Percy looked away for a moment. "But I never really am, am I?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, confused. To her, Percy seemed really productive. He was an award winning competitive swimmer, the most popular guy in school, while managing to be a nice person, and had an active social life. Sure, maybe he wasn't as productive in grades and work, but he had made a lot of progress in terms of sociability. "I don't think I agree with that." Annabeth simply said, and took a sip of her water. "You underestimate yourself." 

"I don't know about that. Maybe. Whatever you say." Percy smiled weakly.

"Nobody is perfect." Annabeth continued, shrugging.

Percy chuckled. "Well, that's obvious. Whatever you say about my social life, sure, it's good, but grades and stuff? That's the important stuff. If only I'd realized that earlier. I've been preoccupied with…" Percy hesitated. "Things."

Annabeth looked a little closer at him. Maybe he wasn't as adjusted as people thought. As she looked more definley, she noticed slight dark circles in his eyes, and just barely, the beginnings of redness on the sides of his eyes. These were things you couldn't detect if you weren't looking.

"I'm sorry Percy." Annabeth said softly to him.

Percy averted his eyes away once more. "It's fine. I- I'm good now. But…" He trailed off. "I don't want to talk about this right now." He started again. "The next chapter of your thing comes tomorrow. That's cool. What's the usual reaction with it?"

Annabeth looked around to see if anyone was listening, which they weren't, obviously. Everyone was focused on their own conversations, and there was no reason why anybody would care about her conversation specifically. Even so, as she looked around, she caught the eye of one person- Drew, who was arguably the most popular girl in the grade- if she could say that without being cliche. She was glaring, directly at Annabeth, and from what Annabeth knew, Drew was _not _someone you wanted to be mad at you.

She looked away quickly.

"I have pretty consistent notifications throughout the week." Despite the other conversations around her, she was still nervous someone would hear what she was saying. "When I post a chapter, there's usually a blast of stuff, and that goes on for about a day. Um… I have friends that manage the merch store, which is in partnership with the site." Annabeth took a deep breath. She hadn't talked about Rachel and Reyna to anyone really.

See, her parents didn't know about them, because they didn't _need _to, they didn't even know how popular her story was. They were really her only friends up until Percy, and so she never had to talk about them for anyone else.

"Which friends?" Percy asked. "I've never seen you with anyone around here."

"Are you saying I'm a loner?" Annabeth joked, but nodded. "Yeah. Online friends, that's what they are. They were some of the first readers of my story, and became my first friends really."

"Oh. That's nice. Have you ever met them in person?"

Annabeth sighed. That was one of the things she had always wanted to do. Meet her best friends in person. "No. One of them lives on the other side of the country, and the other lives in Puerto Rico. I'd love to meet them, but Reyna's a college student, so she doesn't have the time, and Rachel's father, who does have a lot of money won't invest in his daughter meeting 'online friends.'"

"What about you?"

"I could never explain it to my parents." Annabeth said. It felt oddly refreshing to say that to someone. She'd never really talked to anyone about this. "They only know about my story- not how popular it is, or Rachel and Reyna."

Percy grimaced. "Oh." he said. "That sucks. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm good with what I have now. I talk to them everyday. That's good for all of us."

"It must be nice, you know, being that accomplished at your age. Your writing, I saw some drawings in your notebook, designs, it's all just… really good Annabeth, it's really good." Percy said earnestly.

Annabeth blushed, and pushed a lock of hair out of her face. "Thanks Percy. I-I really appreciate that. It means a lot to me. More coming from you." _I can't believe I said that, _Annabeth thought, blushing even redder than before. She cautiously looked up and Percy, who was smiling widely, his cheeks with a tint of red.

"I-I… yeah." Percy took a final bite of his lunch, and then wrapped his stuff up, walking towards the trash can, and throwing it away. _Did I say the wrong thing?_ Annabeth thought, suddenly doubting herself. _Was that too forward?_

Percy returned, and smiled again, reassuring Annabeth. He started to speak, but then was interrupted by the bell. Once it had stopped ringing, Annabeth asked him what he had said.

He shook his head and said he'd talk to her later, smiling and saying goodbye.

And Annabeth smiled too. Because it was nice to have someone to talk about her story, her thoughts, really anything with. And although they got off on the wrong start, Annabeth was happy Percy was that someone.

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked this one! Be prepared for new updates Monday and Wednesday this week! **

**Oh, and a question: What's your favorite book by Uncle Rick? Mine is a tie between **_**The Mark of Athena**_** and **_**The Blood of Olympus.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Percy sighed. He was sitting in his next classroom, tapping his pencil on his desk as the teacher spoke about several upcoming assignments.

As much as Percy wanted to listen- needed to listen, he couldn't get his mind off of the conversation he had during lunch with Annabeth.

"_Thanks Percy. I-I really appreciate that. It means a lot to me. More coming from you." _She'd said. It made him feel really… nice, happy. Special, that was the word. It gave him the kind of warmth inside you only get from specific things, things you really care about.

But of course he'd responded with something stupid. He stuttered and then ran through his trash away. _God, _why was it that sometimes he was so care-free looking, so charismatic, a social pro, and then other times, he stuttered around like an idiot.

And then, just as he was about to respond to what she had said before, say something kind to her, letting her know that he liked her, but not in an obvious, creepy way, the bell _had _to ring.

What was he doing? It would be so much easier for both him and Annabeth if he just stopped. Yeah, he'd seen Drew's glare at her. He couldn't let Annabeth become a target. It would be all his fault.

He rubbed his eyes. _God, I didn't get any sleep last night, did I? _He thought. _I hope no one noticed_. His thoughts continued, bouncing from anxiety to anxiety, before he was snapped out of his senses by one of his (many) acquaintances.

"Hey Percy." Frank- that was his name. He was dating Hazel, Percy remembered.

"Hey man," Percy replied, leaning back in his seat as to get closer to Frank. Percy looked around the room, trying to eye what was going on. He finally deduced that they were picking partners for a project.

"I was wondering if you'd like to be partners for the worksheet?" Frank asked nervously, and quickly, as if he thought someone was going to interrupt him. And it seemed like someone would have. Many people were slowly turning from him, to other people, seeing that someone else was now his partner. Percy rolled his eyes at them. It was ridiculous, these people wanting to be his partner. They should see his grades.

"Oh, sure." Percy replied. Frank was nice. He never made fun of anyone, and as far as Percy knew, did so much as to flick someone being rude to him. Frank smiled, and motioned over to the worksheet on his desk. Percy looked down on his own, and saw there was a replica on his table.

"We have the rest of class time to look through, so why don't we just get started?" Frank asked, and Percy nodded, scooching his desk back, so it was closer to Frank's.

They worked through the problems and questions on the sheet. Whenever Percy got confused, Frank made it surprisingly easier, with his kind and patient manner. It was nice, because Frank didn't make him feel dumb either. Frank messed up a couple of times too, and some of the times, even Percy noticed. Maybe he wasn't doing as bad in this class as he thought.

By the time class ended, Percy had reassured himself there was at least one person he could trust in this class. Even if the entire class admired him, liked him, that didn't mean they would necessarily be honest towards him. Percy had learned it the hard way that you couldn't trust everyone.

He left the class, and continued on his way through school. By the end of the day, he had a stack of work, and swimming practice to go to. He added the load of papers into his binder, and put it into his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Hey Percy!" Several voices rang out into the hallway.

"Hey!" Percy shouted back to them, responding to all of them with one word.

"Percy!" He heard footsteps walking toward him faster, and the signature smell of designer perfume finding its way to his nose. "Percy, wait up." Called Drew once more. Percy put on his best smile and turned to her.

"Drew! What's up?" He said, trying to hold his tongue back from commenting on her rude behavior towards Annabeth during lunch.

"Nothing much," Drew side, smiling with her bright white teeth. Her long black hair swayed around her shoulders, and a piece of it hit Percy on the side of his neck, she was so close. "What's up with you?" She said leaning in closer.

"Nothing much too," Percy forced himself to laugh. "Just heading to swim practice."

"Oh?" Drew said, "Anything after swim practice?" She preened, a bit more flirtatiously.

"No, I don't think so." Percy smiled awkwardly. "Lots of homework."

Drew giggled. "Oh same," She said. "Keep up the good work handsome!" She continued, turning the corner. "Have fun waterboy!"

Percy laughed again, awkwardly (as always), and continued on his way to the pool, exiting the building and heading to the neighboring one next to it. He caught up to a couple of his friends on their way to the same building, which not only held the pool, but the basketball courts and the entrance to the football field.

"Dude," Jason, a football player he was friendly with said. "This may not be the most accurate, but I heard from Piper, who, you know, is Drew's half-sister that Drew is going to ask you to go to the party with her." They were a conversation about what the party would probably be like, debating whether or not it would include a large wedding style cake, or punch and regular snacks. With Drew, you could never know.

"What?" Percy said. No offense to Drew, but he wasn't interested in her. Sure, they had shared a couple of drunken make-out sessions in the past, but he hadn't lead her on to think it would become something more.

Shit, that wasn't what Percy wanted at all. He'd have to work this out somehow.

"Yeah," Jason continued, "Pipes wouldn't tell me anything that wasn't true." Piper was Jason's girlfriend. "Bro, maybe you should talk to her? You two have had a couple of things right?"

Percy reluctantly nodded. "It's not going to happen again… I don't like her like that."

"Really?" Another guy shouted- Travis, a basketball player. "I'll take her."

"Yeah," His brother, Connor added on. "She's hot."

"Seriously guys?" Jason rolled his eyes. "It isn't about looks, and Travis, that's derogatory. Anyway, I personally think Percy's got a thing for that blonde girl, what's her name?"

"Annabeth." Percy murmured.

"Right, Annabeth. I've seen them hanging out a lot." Jason continued, bringing his eyebrows up and down.

"I'm walking right next to you. I can hear you guys." Percy mumbled, opening the door to the building, and letting the other athletes in before him. "And I don't want to talk about this right now. I gotta go to the pool. Bye guys."

"Bye Percy!" Each voice rang out, and Percy went to the locker rooms to change into his suit, ready to swim, and get his mind off of his troubles- just for a couple hours. Then he'd get this whole thing sorted out, and he'd be fine.

**Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the support. Every review, favorite, and follow really means a lot to me. Thanks so much! (:**

**Also, how are you liking the relationship dynamics so far?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter! **

The next Percy walked into school feeling refreshed in a way he hadn't in a while. He had gotten a good night's sleep, and made a plan on how to deal with the problem with Drew.

He knew he liked Annabeth. He knew that he liked her more than a friend. So why not ask her to the party? Sure, he had never seen her at parties before, and yeah, she may say no, but it would one, enhance their friendship, adding in the possibility it could becoming something more, and two, give him a reason to say 'no' to Drew. And that wasn't easy.

He breathed a deep breath in, and then remembered something. Annabeth's story, it updated today, which meant that she was probably busy. He remembered from last week she went to the art room during her free period, and that she worked in the library frequently, so he wouldn't be able to catch her as easily.

Maybe he could meet her somewhere after school?

That seemed like a good plan. And today, he could just try to avoid Drew. He didn't have to go to swim practice today, since it was a Tuesday, which meant he could just leave the school, talk to Annabeth, and go straight home.

With a deep breath, he got up just as the bell rang, and raced to his locker as to put away his stuff. Then, immediately after, he got to his class in record time. Busying himself with looking of the notes from yesterday's lecture, he highlighted the concepts he didn't understand, and could ask the teacher about. Might as well be a good student while he could, right? 

As the class started, Percy's mind didn't wander as it usually did. He tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, no matter how hard that was. Percy's mom had suspicious that he may have had ADHD and dyslexia, but they never got it checked out, they couldn't afford it, and never had enough time.

He lifted up his pencil, and started to write down some notes. With his bad handwriting, probably weren't entirely legible, but at least they were there. The teacher then passed out a worksheet, and explained what they should be doing it.

Percy looked down at the worksheet, and then, suddenly, something clicked. He looked up at the board to be sure, and yes, sure enough, the word "Pop Quiz" was written, loud and clear.

He creased the paper nervously, and wrote his name on the top of it. Looking down at the questions, he assessed he could probably complete the first couple without trouble, but the rest, he was on his own, with no help.

He scrawled messily the answers to the problems slowly but surely above, working through each one as best he could. When he arrived to the questions he _had no clue _how to answer, he stopped, and took a deep breath.

Thirty minutes later, class was over, and he was sure he'd bombed. Luckily gym was next. That was an easy class for him.

In Gym, they were playing dodgeball, the classic cliche gym game. When you were doing it in high school though, it didn't exactly have the same ring to it. Dodgeball was a middle school thing.

The day went by normally, not too fast or too slow, and because Annabeth wasn't sitting in her usual seat during lunch, Percy sat down with his other friends.

"Well, well, well." One of the guys said, "Looks like you finally decided to show up."

"What do you mean "show up?" I've just been sitting at another table. That doesn't make sense man,"

"Don't get defensive Percy." Another added on. "We were just wondering where you've been?"

He heard Jason laugh. "Guys, lay off of him. He's allowed to sit with however he wants to sit."

"Yeah man, It's a free country, do whatever you wanna do." Leo piped up. "We don't care man, your absence leaves more ladies for us."

Percy laughed at that. Leo always knew how to brighten the situation up. And so, Lunch went by as it had been before he'd started talking to Annabeth. It was nice talking to these guys, sure, they could be idiots sometimes, but they were his friends. Most of them, anyway.

By the time school had ended, Percy had almost forgotten about the whole Drew- Annabeth thing. _Almost._

He found her after school, sitting on the same bench she had sat on friday while waiting for her mom, and went over to talk to her.

"Hey." He said, sitting down next to her. "I haven't seen you all day."

"I've been busy," Annabeth said. "Working with the book and stuff. I'll be posting later today."

"Cool," Percy's eyes brightened. "I'm excited. It's going to be awesome, I can tell already."

"Thanks Percy." Annabeth looked down and smiled.

"And-" Here was the hard part. "I was wondering if you would maybe…" He stuttered. "Like to come to Drew's party with me?" He cringed at his words. "As a date, you know, I just- if you don't want to, that's totally fine but-"

Annabeth put her hand over his. "I- I've never been to a party before… I… what would I do?"

Percy felt his stomach drop a bit. Had he been reading her wrong this entire time? "You- you could hangout with me, I could drive you there if you wanted-"

Annabeth was quiet- they both were- for a while. "I-I guess. Yeah- sure. I'll go… You don't need to drive me though… just text me the address." She was quiet again, seeming to have an internal debate in her mind. "I guess that would be good for me, to get out more." She laughed nervously. "Okay."

Percy smiled, but a part of him felt guilty. He should have known this was something Annabeth didn't usually do. _Never_ did, if he was being totally honest.

"Are you sure?" He asked, almost a whisper, "I don't want to discomfort you…"

Annabeth took a deep breath, so much that Percy could hear it clearly from where he was sitting. "I-I can't make any promises I won't bail out last minute, but I can… I can try. Could you give me a ride back though?"

Percy nodded, and felt the part of his stomach that had dropped settle a bit. It was clear she was wary of this, but also wanted to try it out. Percy admired that, and also admired the fact that she told him she might back down.

"As a date right?" Annabeth clarified, another blush slowly forming across her cheeks. "That's what you said?"

A similar blush appeared on Percy's cheeks too. "Yeah. I- Yeah. As a date." _I really like you_. He thought, but decided against saying.

And then, she smiled, and so did he.

**Thanks so much for reading, and for all the support! What do you think Annabeth will do? Go to the party, or stay at home?**


	16. Chapter 16

**Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening! Here's the next chapter! (:**

Annabeth didn't know how she felt about this whole "party" thing. In fact, she wasn't sure why she'd said yes at all. Maybe it was because it was Percy, and trusted him. Maybe it was the whole "date" aspect about it.

Either way, Annabeth had never went to a party, and didn't know how she should act. What was the protocol for this?

As she thought about it, she realized she had friends- Reyna and Rachel- and they could probably help her with this. Reyna was in college after all, and from what Annabeth knew, Rachel had quite the social life.

She logged on to her messaging app, and sent them a quick text.

"Guys," It read, "I'm having a dilemma." She checked her watch. Reyna would probably respond soon, and Rachel was in Lunch, which mean she could talk.

Annabeth smiled as a message from Reyna came in. "What's your dilemma?" It read.

Annabeth typed back quickly. "I was invited to a party. By a boy. As a date."

"That's a surprisingly big social life boost." Came Reyna's response. "I assume you said yes, or else this wouldn't be a dilemma."

"You know me so well." Annabeth replied. "Anyway, please help me, because it's a party and I've never been to a party and I don't know what to do, please help me."

She imagined Reyna on the other end laughing at her. "I've been to a couple of parties, but I can't say I have a lot of expertise."

Her phone buzzed again, and a message from Rachel came up. "I gotta say, I was not expecting this to be your dilemma." It read. "But I can help you out."

A car honked in front of Annabeth, and she looked up to see it was Helen. "I have to go," She quickly typed to her friends. "But I'll text you guys later."

"You better," Rachel responded immediately, and Annabeth smiled again, and put her phone into her back pocket. She walked over to the car, and got in. "Hey Helen," She said, and leaned her head against the window.

"Hello Annabeth," Helen responded, looking into the review-mirror of the car, and driving back onto the road. "How was your day?" She asked, and Annabeth looked up, surprised. It didn't sound as condescending as usual, almosting feeling like she was really interested.

"It was… okay." She'd gotten a lot of work on her story done today. At the library, she'd finished up the newest chapter of her story and edited a couple old ones. "I got invited to a party." She flinched at her words. Why would she tell Helen that? More presumptuous comments would come up, ones she really _did not _want to hear now.

"That's nice. By who?" Helen asked, her eyes still on the road.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Uh- Percy. You met him last week?"

"Percy, of course, that's nice." Helen said. "When's the party?"

"Saturday, I think." At least that's what she predicted. Drew's parties were always on a Saturday. Even _Annabeth _knew that.

"Is there anyone else you know that will be there?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. This was the presumption she had been waiting for. Helen _knew _that she didn't have much- any friends at school. Of course she would ask this.

"No." Annabeth said coldly. "Of course there isn't."

"Right," Helen replied, "Of course not." She said, and frowned.

The rest of the time, they rode in silence, ignoring the large build-up of tension surrounding them. When the car pulled in their driveway, they walked to the house without a word. The only sound Annabeth could hear, was the click-clacking of Helen's high heel shoes, and the large briefcase in her hand, which she was constantly adjusting.

She'd heard the night before from her dad, that Helen was working a big case, which was probably why her briefcase was so heavy. She wondered what the case was on, but decided to ask when they were on more neutral terms.

Annabeth walked upstairs to her room, and checked her watch. She had thirty minutes before she had to post the next chapter. That was time for a final look through and edit that didn't ever consist of any big changes, and then another double check.

She scrolled through the chapter on her computer, and fixed a couple punctuation placements, finally bringing the cursor up to the top for the final check. She checked her watch one more time, reading she had ten minutes. As she went through for the final check, she didn't notice any mistakes.

She stared at the publish button. This was always the hard part. She inhaled, and at the peak of it, hit the publish button, and watched as it loaded, and then finally was released into the world.

Soon, comments started rolling in, and other notifications splayed across her screen. watched as the view numbers went up, and smiled at all the nice comments that appeared on her screen.

She used to be able to answer to every individual comment, but as time passed, and her story got more popular, she was unable too. Now, she posted a general message thanking everyone, and told people that if they had any questions, they should post a message on her profile, or message her directly.

Even then she wasn't the most reliable, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that the viewers knew she was trying her hardest to be involved, and they knew she didn't have a lot of time to look over everything.

She shut down her computer, and splayed out on her bed, contemplating the homework sitting in her bag, which she _probably should_ do.

Pulling it out, she began, and tried to think about it in particular- not the entire internet that was waiting for her.

She noticed something, something, she decided was good. It was almost as if Percy was helping to reintroduce her to the world- he was helping her focus on the real more- and sure, the internet was real, but the real that was right in front of her.

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Are there any specific characters you think Annabeth will befriend, or will befriend Annabeth?**

**Please Note: Updates this week won't be as structured, so if you don't see a chapter Monday or Wednesday, it may appear on another day.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks so much for all the support!**

Wednesday. Annabeth thought of Wednesdays as the last little boundary before you got to peaceful thursday-friday territory. As far as the days of the week went, Wednesdays were one of the better ones.

Wednesdays were in short, the start of the end. The highly awaited conclusion of the week was coming soon, and Wednesdays were what you had to get past to achieve that.

Annabeth tapped her pencil against her desk, further contemplating the days ahead of her- the weekend in particular. She had gotten advice from Rachel late Tuesday night, and through that, managed to get a slight idea of what the party might look like. Loud music, possible alcohol- which Annabeth knew to avoid at all costs, and it depended on the party, but large crowds of people.

Annabeth didn't know which one she was least ready for. As a self-proclaimed introvert, she got her energy from being alone, recharging through relaxing by herself. It's not that she didn't like talking to people, it was just that it took energy out of her, it was exhausting. Which meant, in short, that she would have to prepare for this party.

Additionally, Rachel had told her that it was advisable she bring a water bottle, as the drinks at big parties couldn't be trusted to be non-alcoholic. Annabeth agreed, and decided she'd bring the small green bottle she carried around in the summer when she was outside.

Rachel had also explained some fashion etiquette- which Annabeth had plainly disregarded. She one, didn't have the type of clothing Rachel suggested, and two, wouldn't be comfortable wearing that clothing in the first place. Outfits were something she could decide later, when the party was closer in time.

She looked up, as the class grew unusually silent. Mr. Brunner, the teacher, was apparently, as she saw on the board, mapping out partners. She sighed. This might be a little tricky for her, considering that she talked to no one. She would either be paired with an obnoxious jock, or an oblivious dumbnut. 

Okay, fine, she had more options than that, but this obviously wasn't going to end out good for her.

Mr. Brunner finally called out her name, pairing her with a girl named Hazel. She squinted at Hazel, trying to access her. She dressed formally- almost in an old fashioned way. She picked up her materials, and walked towards her cautiously.

"Hi," She said, placing her stuff at the empty desk on the other side of the girl. "I'm Annabeth."

Hazel smiled cheerfully. "I'm Hazel. I don't think we've ever talked before."

"Yeah," Annabeth shifted awkwardly. "I don't think so."

"Well, it's nice to finally talk to you. What's up?" Hazel asked, and Annabeth appreciated her conversation attempt. It would lessen the tension within this situation.

"Not much." Annabeth said, trying not to come off as too enearst about getting her work done. "You?" She asked, turning her ever-present neutral expression into a smile.

"I'm good. Except for this worksheet." Hazel frowned at the paper. "This does not look good at all."

Annabeth laughed, and pointed to problem one. "Let's see what we can do." She winced, hoping that what she said didn't come off as condescending or anything like that. Even though this conversation was going fairly well, Annabeth's worry did not have an off button.

They chatted, and worked through the sheet together, and as they completed it, Annabeth realized that she liked talking to Hazel. Hazel was nicer than some of the other people she interacted with.

Once they were finished answering the final question, they smiled at each other, and handed to paper to Mr. Brunner, who smiled and took it.

Class was ending in three minutes, so in that time, Annabeth took the liberty- and the chance on her part- to continue talking to Hazel. She wondered what Hazel was thinking. What did she think of Annabeth?

Annabeth knew what she thought. It would be nice to possibly have a friend- specifically a friend who was a girl. For as long as she remembered, she hadn't had a friend who was a girl in real life. Sure, Reyna and Rachel were there, but they wouldn't always be there. They had lives in other places, doing other things.

As Annabeth left the class, she hugged her books to her chest, and smiled. She was lucky to be paired with Hazel, and not someone else. That "someone else" could be any thing from obnoxiously condescending, or annoyingly unfocused. Hazel wasn't either, plus, unlike the others, she had an actual _conversation _with Annabeth.

She walked to her next class, and thought in more depth about the party which was now looming in her near future. Wednesday was just starting. Meaning, she had three days for mental preparation.

By mental preparation she meant a routine that consisted of: One, staring at the ceiling until she gained Mathilda like super-powers and blasted it open. Two, looking at her watch compulsively as she was doing step one. And finally Three, ignoring the last two steps and pacing nervously across her room.

See, as much as she liked the idea of moving things with her mind, the last step was the most probable one.

The school day went normally and at a fast pace, despite Annabeth's internal protest. It was the first time she has actually _wanted _to have more time in school, as this whole "party" thing was setting off her whole mood.

She was always excited during the end of the week- or, at least when they were nearing it.

Maybe she just shouldn't go.

The party was giving her all this added anxiety, and if that anxiety manifested for a while, there was no telling she wouldn't get a panic attack on Saturday.

As she sat down at lunch, she prepared to tell Percy her decision, but as he smiled at her and set down his things, she felt herself slacking off.

As she thought about it more and more, this would give her good exposure for college and social environments like that. It could be a social exercise, and to be honest, Annabeth did really need to get out of her comfort zone.

She sighed, and looked up at Percy, who had started talking. While in her thoughts, she had missed what he had said.

She interrupted him. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Oh, sure." Percy laughed. "I just wanted to tell you I really enjoyed that chapter last night, it was good."

Annabeth smiles. "Thanks Percy. I appreciate it."

Having conversations like this was also good. It lessened here worry about other people knowing, and made it so she was less inclined to look over her shoulder while talking about things like this.

"Also," Percy started, "I was wondering if you'd changed your mind about the ride thing. I can give you a ride if you want, you know."

Annabeth shook her head. She wanted to get there on her own, so she could take in the whole experience without being judged. Even though she knew Percy probably wouldn't do that, she still had some anxiety about it.

"No," she said to him. "It's fine. But I would appreciate a ride back, like I said before."

Percy nodded. "Okay, sure thing."

"I can even drive us back too if you- if you," she stuttered. "Want to drink." She finished. She couldn't imagine Percy drinking. He always seemed so responsible. He was nice.

Even so, she had heard the stories, and nice didn't mean innocent.

"I haven't made any plans to drink." He said. "I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable. Plus, looking back on it, I really regret every time I did that."

Annabeth nodded in relief. "Okay..."

Percy smiles. "I'm really glad you're coming with me Annabeth." He hesitated. "Because- because I really like you." He finished. "And I know that we've only been talking for a couple of weeks, and I know that we got off on the wrong foot, but I can confidently say I really like you."

Annabeth felt her face go hot, and she'd bet a hundred bucks she was blushing. "I like you too." She said. "You're not what I expected. And I like that."

Percy sighed. "It's a relief we got all that out. I've wanted to say that for a while now."

"Yeah," Annabeth responded softly. "Me too."

**Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the feedback and support on this story. All the reviews, favorites and follows give me a little burst of joy. **

**Also, If you have any questions about anything, feel free to leave them in the reviews, and I'll try to respond. (:**

**On that note (expert transition), RandomFanAuthor, to answer your question, yes, my publishing habits are similar to Annabeth's, haha, that's probably why everything is so specific. **

**Question: Any predictions on what might happen at the party?**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! Again, I'm sorry for the inconsistent updates this week, it's been kind of crazy.**

Two days had passed since his sudden confession to Annabeth, and Percy was still reliving it. He was perpetually in a state of happiness the first twenty four hours, and then the next time he and Annabeth talked, that state of happiness turned into something much more.

Percy was determined that their date (Right? Percy was still trying to figure out if she saw it that way to) would be an absolute success. He would meet her in front of Drew's house, and escort her in. Then, they would get drinks, and talk and dance for the rest of the night. And, if Annabeth was okay with it, maybe they'd kiss.

It really depended on what Annabeth wanted, of course. He wanted to make this as comfortable as possible for her. He could tell from Wednesday that she didn't feel entirely comfortable about the situation ahead, but was still going on with it for some reason (Percy wasn't sure of that either).

He finished drying off his hair, and looked into the mirror across from him. Some of the other swimmers were collecting their bags, and because Percy had gotten into the locker rooms last, he was just finishing getting ready.

Staring into the bathroom mirror for a couple of moments, he grabbed a brush, and quickly flattened up his unruly hair. It was no use though, as Percy had what his mother called "Harry Potter Hair," meaning that it would never lay flat.

He went to his locker, put his stuff back in, and took out his bag. He closed it, and flipped the lockers combination lock shut a couple of times for good measure. He looked around the room, and saw that he was the last person inside. Shrugging, he heaved his bag over his shoulder and exited the room.

It was cold outside- brisk- and as Percy knew from past experience, wet and cold do not mix together. He shivered as the cold air hit his skin, and made his way home.

Once he arrived, he promptly set all of his stuff down, and went straight to his bedroom. Once in, he took out his phone, and swiped through notifications, heading straight to Annabeth's contact. He stared at it for a couple seconds, looking at the various conversations they had in the past.

Percy set his phone down, and got up from his bed to get something to eat. He walked into the kitchen, and took out a bag of chips, popping it open, and returning to his room.

He then looked at Annabeth's contact once more, and hesitantly, pressed the call button.

He listened as it rang two times, hoping she would pick up.

"Hello?" Annabeth's voice rang out from the phone, with a tone of confusion. "Percy?"

Percy smiled. "Hi. I just wanted to call."

"Oh." Annabeth replied. "Why?"

"Do I need a reason?" Percy laughed, feeling unsure of himself.

"No, No," She sounded flustered. "I just- it's kind of out of the blue, you know?"

Percy paused. He'd caught her off guard. "I'm sorry," He said. "I just wanted to hear your voice. I wanted to talk to you." He added on.

"Oh." She said again. "Uh, how are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm excited to see you tomorrow." Ugh, Percy thought, Was he coming off as uncharacteristically earnest? "I just- yeah…" He trailed off, struggling to clean that up.

Annabeth hesitated. "I- I am to. I think I'll have a-" she stuttered. "A nice time."

"Are you sure?" He replied, concerned. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to go. I know you said before it was fine, but I don't want to pressure you or anything."

"It's fine." She paused. "You'll be there, so it's fine." Percy felt himself blush, his cheeks heating, and probably, reddening.

Percy paused, thinking of how to respond. "Thanks." He said, and mentally slapped himself on the forehead. What the hell was that? "I mean- I guess I don't know what I'm trying to say."

Annabeth laughed from the other side of the line. "It's fine. That's me on a daily basis. Expert conversationalist like you are allowed to mess up a couple of times."

"I'm not an 'expert conversationalist,' I just ended up so-" Percy winced at the world he was about to say. To be honest, he really hated it. It sounded so stuck-up and full of yourself to ever say it. Even so, in this context, it made sense. "Popular because I'm attractive," to say that out loud was horrible and narassatic, but it was true. "And because I do sports." He finished.

He knew at this instant, Annabeth was currently rolling her eyes at him. He deserved that. He sounded absolutely pathetic. "Someones full of themselves." She said, "But yeah, I understand. You are attractive, and that's a key point the popularity scale. It's so goddamn superficial."

"Yeah." Percy said, and nodded his head, even though Annabeth couldn't see him. "It's unfair, because awesome people like you," he said pointedly, "Are left in the dust of dumb people like me," 

Annabeth voice softened. "Percy, you're not dumb. Why would you say that."

He laughed, "My grades say otherwise. And if you look at the dumb stuff I've done in the past, you'd be saying otherwise."

"Small events like that don't mean that you as a person are dumb, or whatever. Maybe you made mistakes, but that doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Everyone makes mistakes."

Percy sighed. Maybe she was right, maybe she was wrong. Even so, when he thought about his past years of high school, he got a little sick to his stomach. "Thank's Annabeth," He said finally, after a long pause. "I really appreciate it."

"Of course." Annabeth sighed, just as Percy had. "Just, remember, you're not dumb. You're a good person. It's been nice having you as a friend these last couple of weeks. Sure, we got off on the wrong foot, but it's been really nice. The mistakes in your past, they're in your past. You can't do anything about them. You've got to focus on your future."

"Thanks Annabeth." he repeated. "Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem." Annabeth replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She hung up the phone.

_Friend, _Percy thought. Somehow, someway, that word seemed incomplete, like there still was a puzzle piece he had to click in place, to make that whole.

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. At first, I was having a hard time writing it, but once I got back into my groove, I was fine. **

**Anyway, for a while, I had three alternate endings to this story, and I wasn't sure which one to pick. This chapter was really good, because it gave me a chance to sort out what I wanted, and I'm pretty satisfied with the one I choose.**

**I'm really excited to post the next couple of chapters! I think that they will be real game changers. (:**

**Again, thanks so much for all the support! I really appreciate it!**

**Question: What do you think of the relationship dynamics so far?**


	19. Chapter 19

**We are back to normally scheduled updates! Thanks so much for bearing with me!**

Percy groaned as he woke up, stretching his arms and yawning. As he reconfigured himself, he checked him watch. The time read 11:30, meaning he had about eight hours till the party.

He got up, and stretched his arms once more. Walking across the room, he flipped the light switch, and blinked a couple times, adjusting to the light. He then opened the door, and slumped out of his room. He walked through the hall, and to the living room, where his mother was typing on her computer.

"Hey Percy," His mom said, looking up from her typing. "Good morning."

Percy yawned again. "Good morning mom. What are you doing?"

His mother smiled at him, though an exhausted look was present within her face. "Just some last minute stuff for the book. Nothing serious." It looked like it was serious. She looked exhausted.

"Mom, when did you go to sleep?" He remembered her sitting in the same position she was now, after they had eaten dinner.

"Huh?" She said. "Oh, don't worry Percy. I went to sleep at twelve-ish. Normal for a weekend."

Percy nodded. That was better than most times. When she was getting really close to deadlines, she tended to "forget" to go to sleep, and continue working. "Okay. Well, I think I told you this, but I'm going to a party later today. That's good right?"

His mother had returned to her typing, but murmured slightly. "Yeah. Of course."

"Thanks mom." He said, and walked over to the kitchen to get some food. He got an orange, and ate it quickly, soon returning to the couch, phone in hand, to check for notifications.

He clicked onto his social media page, to see if there were any notifications. Sure enough, several messages had come in, and a couple scattered post about the party tagging him appeared.

He looked through his messages, noticing several from teammates and friends, and a couple messages from Drew. He sighed, and clicked onto them.

"Hey handsome," One read, and wow, she was forward. "I'm excited to see you at the party tonight." Another one said, followed by a winky emoji. Percy looked through the others, all saying the same thing.

Replying with a simple "okay", Percy checked the time once more, seeing it was officially noon. He stretched, realizing he should start getting ready, since the day was starting, even though it was a weekend.

He showered, and then got dressed, putting on normal jeans and a white shirt, followed by a black jacket. Percy checked his watch again, and sighed, seeing not much time had past.

He busied himself with homework and chores around the house, the usual Saturday ritual. Most of the time, he and his mother were able to clean together, but these last couple weeks, because the book was coming out soon, he did most of the work. Which was fine because his mom was _awesome. _She was one of Percy's favorite people.

His mom was always there for him, even when he had done stupid stuff. Especially when he had done stupid stuff.

So with all she had done for him, why complain over a couple stupid chores? Sometimes, when he was over at a friends house, they would treat their parents like absolute crap. Percy was always astounded by this, and always made sure to thank them, and say "sorry," even if there was no reason for him to do so.

He'd always wondered how his friends could do that without any guilty conscience. He couldn't _think _of how he would feel if he had said something to his mom like that.

After all of the work with chores, homework, etcetera was complete, he texted Annabeth, telling her the address, and that he would get their at about eight thirty. She responded quickly, saying she would arrive fifteen minutes later.

He checked his watch, which read seven thirty. That gave him time to watch something and eat a snack. From what he remembered, Drew's house was about twenty five minutes away, and google maps confirmed that.

He queued up a couple youtube videos watching them as he momentarily ate chips. He pondered what might happen at the party. Would they dance? Maybe they would just sit on a nearby couch and talk, like they normally did.

Even so, a pang in Percy's stomach made him feel that this would be all but normal. Normally when they talked, it was as friends, and this party, this _date, _would be… not as friends. Possibly as something more, Percy reasoned.

He sighed and turned his phone off, realizing the time now read eight o'clock. He put it in his back pocket, and grabbed his wallet and keys. "I'm heading out mom!" He shouted to her, and left.

It was dark outside. The type of dark which was in the middle of twilight and full on night time. Percy shivered as he walked to the car and opened the door. He settled into the car seat, put the key in, and turned the ignition on.

The car instantly sparked to life, and Percy pulled out of the driveway. He drove silently, with one hand on the wheel, and the other hand on google maps, attempting to put the address in. And yes, Percy knew this was incredibly dangerous. It was something the school constantly told students not to do. But just this once, he needed to do this real quick.

He finished typing in the location, and began to put it onto the phone stand on the car. In this moment, four things happened.

One, the upcoming light turned from green to red, telling Percy he could continue on, though still adjusting the stand.

Two, Percy checked his watch, seeing he had ten minutes to get to the party.

Three, a car ran it's red light, seeming to, in a haste, ignore the changing light. It speed across the road.

Four, a collision. There was no way Percy could stop it. As he slammed his foot on the brake, he knew it was no use. He took a deep breath, and shut his eyes, bracing himself from the impact.

And as the cars collided, Percy didn't know what he could do. Was there anything he could do? He had never gotten into an accident, and because of that didn't know how to handle this. Plus, he was in danger what if-

The last thing he heard was a loud "_thump_."

Then, darkness.

**I'm going to keep this short, as I am trying to avoid fruit & other objects being thrown at me, so:**

**There are two things I would like to say: One, I'm sorry (...not really), and two, thanks again for the support.**

**Hey, what can I say, every book needs a cliff-hanger of some sort (plus, authors **_**crave **_**drama)... **


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! Although there are still a bunch more chapters in this fic, I wanted to hear your feedback, and see what you guys would like to read next! Currently, there is a live poll on my profile where you can pick which story you would rather have posted next! **

**Also, a quick disclaimer: This chapter handles themes of panic attacks and anxiety. Additionally, noted in the chapter, several coping methods are shown.**

Annabeth looked down at her outfit, suddenly feeling ridiculous. She wore a white turtleneck, paired with a simple black skirt. When she looked into the mirror earlier, she was happy about how she looked.

Now, as she stared up at Drew's mansion like home, a sickening feeling crept down her throat, making her wish she hadn't come. She glanced back at Helen's car, and remembered the awkward conversation they had on the way. The car was now pulling away, and Annabeth now wished she was at home having a "family dinner."

She scratched the back of her neck, and breathed in deeply. Percy would be there, and that would be good. She wouldn't have to worry about anything, because he'd be there to help her out.

Annabeth started up the steps to Drew's house, wondering if she could just open the door, or knock. She soon deduced it was etiquette to just let yourself in, and go from there.

Pulling out her phone, she sent Percy a quick text, notifying him of her arrival, and headed in.

The inside of Drew's house was just as impressive as the outside. The room was large, and flooded with people drinking, dancing, making out, and talking. It was overwhelming.

Bright party lights flashed everywhere, though the entire scene gave off a dim vibe. A vibe that definitely didn't sit well with Annabeth. She knew instantly she did not fit in.

She pulled out her phone once more, checking to see if Percy had texted her back. He hadn't.

Annabeth took a breath in, and another one out. He would reply soon. He was reliable.

_Maybe I should just look for him, _Annabeth thought, _It's so big and loud here, he probably didn't notice. _

She squeezed through the mass of dancing people, some that Annabeth recognized, others that she didn't. As she made her way through the crowd, she got closer to what she assumed was the kitchen. She sighed. Sanctuary.

As she walked in, a low voice whispered into her ear. "Hey, who are you?" Annabeth turned around quickly, to see someone, a person she vaguely recognized from school talking to her. He smelled of bear, and his entire appearance was just unnerving.

"I'm…" Annabeth stuttered. "I'm going…"

"Going?" Okay, this guy was definitely drunk. "That's interesting," He continued, but Annabeth was already walking away quickly. "Wait? Where are you going?" The guy stumbled closer, but was soon absorbed by the crowd of people, probably to make some other person uncomfortable.

Annabeth approached the kitchen, where she recognized several other people chatting and drinking. She leaned against the wall, and inhaled through her mouth, hoping not to breath in the unflattering smells around her.

She took out her phone once more, and checked the time. It read nine o'clock. Percy _had _to be here. He _had _too.

She walked away from the wall she had previously been leaning on, and went outside to the backyard. She took a deep breath once more, and released it. As she walked further into the backyard, she saw Drew, and promptly winced.

Drew was talking to someone Annabeth vaguely recognized who usually was in her posse. She looked annoyed, and was tapping her foot against the floor. Annabeth inched forward as to hear her conversation.

"I can't believe he's not hear yet," Drew was saying. "Like, Percy _said _he would be here. He said he would say 'Hi,' or like," Drew looked over dramatically, "you know."

"Yeah." The girl talking to her said. "You two are just so cute."

Drew beamed at the girl. "I know right?"

"And that girl who's always hanging around with him, what's her name? Like Annabell or something?" Annabeth winced. "She's seems so desperate. He's probably just stringing her along. Like, he has _you _to choose from, back off Annabell."

"Of course, like, I was talking to Percy the other day, and he said he was just talking to her out of obligation, being the nice guy he is. She doesn't have any friends so, you know, it's the right thing to do." Drew said, though not in the kind and confident way that last statement was supposed to sound. It sounded mean and just… horrible. Annabeth felt her heart rate come up. "Plus, like Percy and I, we have a history. We've made out and stuff. I don't think they've even kissed,"

"He'd probably get scared away," The girl replied, "She has like, no, experience."

Annabeth stumbled away, hoping Drew wouldn't notice her. She turned away quickly, and ran back into the room.

Her heart rate was increasing more and more. The lights, the music, the sound, all of this was just so overwhelming. She couldn't take it. This wasn't her scene. This would never be her scene. Percy didn't like her. He was just playing around.

He was going to arrive later, and Drew and him would be together. He probably wouldn't even remember Annabeth by the end of it.

She was right about him all along. Before they'd met, she saw him as narcissistic, rude, and dumb. That's all he was. He had left her alone, without any regards to her feelings.

The room was spinning now. Annabeth had to get out. As she pushed her way through the crowds of people, she held back a barf. She continued on her way, faster and faster, until she stopped at the door, and opened it, running off into the night.

She settled down onto the sidewalk curb, and sat there in a fetal position, rocking back and forth. Maybe if she shut her eyes tight enough, this wouldn't be happening. Maybe this would all be a dream, and Annabeth could go back to her own normal life, with writing as her only escape.

She could live with that. The world was unreliable, she had now learned. She had lived for years just having a sanctuary within her own words. Why stop now?

A tear fell down Annabeth's cheek, and she frantically swiped it away. "Don't cry," She whispered to herself, "Please don't cry."

It was too late. She was crying. If she stayed in this position long enough, maybe no one would notice. Maybe-

Annabeth flinched as she felt a warm hand settle onto her shoulder. "Are you okay?" A voice rang out, one she didn't recognize. She looked up, but her vision was blurry due to the tears, she could make out several features- dark skin and curly hair. Could it be Hazel?

"I-" Annabeth stuttered. "I don't know. I don't think so."

Another girl, who had tan skin and a long brown braid then spoke. "That's a stupid question Hazel, of course she's not okay." So it was Hazel. Then who was this other girl.

She felt the two girls sitting next to her, and slowly lifted her head. She turned to the girl she didn't recognize. "Who are you?"

"Oh." The girl said. "I'm Piper."

"And I'm Hazel," Hazel chimed in. "If you forgot."

"I didn't forget." Annabeth said, tears still streaming down her face.

Piper shifted herself so she was facing Annabeth. "So," She said. "What's wrong?"

"I-I" Annabeth choked a tiny bit, but did her best to describe what happened in non-specific words. She told them the what, but not the who. She didn't know why- but she wasn't ready to say Percy's name yet.

When she was finished, both girls looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry," Hazel said, "But no matter how nice he was to you, no guy that gets you like this," Hazel motioned towards Annabeth. "Is worth it."

"I know," Annabeth said, putting her head into her hands. "I just- he was just so-" 

Piper sighed. "Hey," She said. "Could you please just let us know who this person is? Maybe we can help."

Annabeth exhaled shakily. "I guess." She closed her eyes tightly. "Percy-" She said. "Percy Jackson."

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you are excited for what's to come, and how this will end, because I sure am!**

**Also, again, apologies (...not really) for the last chapter, it was unavoidable, I had to do it… what can I say? Writers are evil.**

**As always, thanks so much for all the support! Every favorite, follow and review means so much to me, and I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing this.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys! A quick disclaimer before the next chapter: if things like anxiety attacks trigger you, this chapter features one, but also has a very clear part featuring how to deal with one.**

**Okay, here it is:**

"What the hell?" Piper exclaimed, slapping herself in the forehead. "I thought Percy was a good guy! Jason always told me despite having gone through some troubling stuff, he had a really big heart. What the hell?" She repeated.

"Yeah," Hazel responded quietly. "I thought so too. Frank and him are friends. We've talked once or twice. He's always been really nice."

Annabeth sighed. "Before I got to know him, I despised him, but once we started talking… I began to really like him."

Piper was still shaking her head. "What the hell? Okay, once he arrives, I'm going to literally…" She trailed off. "What the hell? What is wrong with him?" 

"Calm down Piper," Hazel replied, "I don't think this is what Annabeth wants to hear."

"This was my first party," She mumbled. "He said-" She clenched her fist. "He said he would make sure I was comfortable the entire time. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't because of him." Annabeth continued, suddenly getting angry. "I can't believe this-" She stopped mid sentence.

"Wow." Piper clapped her hands together. "I mean, I should have known, I have jerk-dar."

"No you don't Piper," Hazel replied softly, "You really don't. How about we focus on getting Annabeth calm. I think she might be having a panic attack."

_A Panic Attack_. Annabeth remembered having several before. More than several- multiple. She always had brushed it off, told herself she'd be fine after, and kept to herself, but maybe that was the wrong approach.

All the signs were there. A tightness in her throat- Annabeth found herself having to breathe deeply and purposefully despite the sinking feeling in her throat. An increased heart rate as Annabeth held her hand to her chest, she noticed it was going faster than normal. Trembling or shaking- well, that was what she was doing right now.

"Yes," Annabeth gasped. "A panic attack- yeah," she managed, and wiped some sweat from her forehead. "I need-"

"You need to breath." Hazel said gently, "Piper, google 'what to do when you have a panic attack,'"

Piper nodded, and obediently took out her phone. She typed quickly, as Hazel talked to Annabeth quietly.

"Relax your muscles." Piper read from her phone. "Breath slowly and deeply," She continued. "Okay," She sighed, "We can do this. Annabeth, uh, relax?"

Hazel slapped Piper, which was a kind of awkward motion, as she had to reach her hand across Annabeth to do it. "That's like telling a hungry person to stop being hungry. It doesn't work like that."

"Fine, I guess the yoga classes Dad made me take will finally go to use," Piper shrugged, then paused, thinking. After a couple seconds of silence, she spoke again. "Um, focused breathing, right? Breath in for four seconds, hold it for eight, and breath out in another four seconds."

Annabeth complied, she slowly inhaled, and then held it for eight seconds. As she exhaled, she felt herself relax slightly, and continued the exercise. She did it four more times, and felt her shoulders relax, her hands unclasp, and her eyes to slowly close though not tightly.

Hazel spoke. "Are you feeling better?"

"I think so," Annabeth continued breathing slowly. "Yeah, I am."

Piper smiled, and Hazel followed suit. "Do you want to get out of here?" Piper said. "I can tell Jason I had to leave early."

"Yeah…" Annabeth said, "Um, Percy was supposed to be my ride back and now…"

"It's okay," Hazel said. "I can give you a ride home. I drove over here myself."

"Can I hitch a ride with you Hazel?" Piper said, looking up from her phone.

Hazel nodded, and got up, taking Annabeth's hand. "Come on," She said. "It's just down the street."

"Thanks so much." Annabeth said, and she noticed that although her voice was shaking, it wasn't as much as it had before. She followed Hazel and Piper across the street, and sat down in the backseat of the car. Hazel turned the car on, and began to Drive. Annabeth quickly told her the address to her place, and they headed there.

After several minutes of silence, Annabeth spoke. "I don't know why, but I keep thinking that maybe it isn't his fault, like, I keep thinking something else happened, when clearly he just bailed without telling me."

Piper turned around from the shotgun seat. "Annabeth, even if something else came up, he should have told you. I mean, unless it's life threatening, which it probably isn't, he has no excuse."

Annabeth paused. "I don't know," She said, putting her hands on her face. "I mean, this feels all wrong. Like, every single time we talked, he seemed so genuine, kind, vulnerable." _Just like me, _Annabeth wanted to add.

"Guys can be amazing actors." Hazel said quietly, but didn't finish the thought.

Piper leaned back into her chair. "True that." She turned around to Annabeth, "Don't worry about it though, it takes time to heal. Some people don't understand that." 

"Sure," Annabeth said, and looked up, seeing her street was coming up soon. "You can drop me off here," She said.

"Okay." Hazel replied. "Be safe Annabeth. Bye." The car stopped, and Annabeth hopped out.

"Bye," She said as she left, and began walking towards her house. Some of the lights were on, and others were off, so Annabeth decided that family dinner night was still on. Maybe she could get some food once she came in. She hadn't eaten in a while, especially since before the party she had conveniently forgotten to eat a snack.

_God, _why did everything have to hurt so much. Piper and Hazel had told her multiple times that Percy didn't deserve her. But what did that matter? This entire thing was probably hurting her more than him.

What was she kidding, she had fallen for him, and he had obviously been stringing her along the entire time. Was all of this just a joke, a joke to find out the weakness of the "outcast," and then make fun of her for it. For all she knew, everyone at school now knew about her writing, and were making fun of it behind her back.

All the fault of him, Percy Jackson. A jerk. Nothing more than a jerk.

She fell onto her bed, and hugged her pillow to her chest. This wasn't fair. Why was she feeling all the pain for something she didn't cause? She closed her eyes, and shut them tightly.

And soon, she fell asleep, and went about her day normally (as normal as you can get), but midday, as she was cleaning her room, she got a call.

She was expecting it to be Hazel or Piper checking in, she'd given them her number after all. She switched her phone on, and saw that it was the one person she in no way wanted to talk to.

But, as she denied the call, another one came in just as quickly. And then another and another, until Annabeth had no choice but to accept the call.

"Annabeth I-" Percy's voice sounded frail, but to be honest, Annabeth didn't care right now.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" She said. "Why would you do that, I trusted you!" She continued, "That was the first high school party I've ever been to, you know, because I told you that. I also told you that you were the only reason I was coming, so why would you bail on me?" She said, and paused for a second, clearing her throat.

"You know, I was right about you all along, your just a brainless jock who likes playing people." Her voice cracked. "I should have never trusted you, because of course, you would just leave me alone and break-" _my heart. _Annabeth couldn't say that yet. She wasn't ready. "And I don't want you to apologize. I want you to hang up, and get out of my life, because this proved to me that guys like you? They're just jerks."

A long pause filled the air after she finished speaking. It was silent, and Annabeth had to look at her phone to see if he had hung up or not, which he evidently hadn't.

But after a moment, he spoke, this time, Annabeth noticed the frail and detachment of his voice, like a call for help. "Annabeth, I'm in the hospital."

**I hope you guys don't hate me too much after the last couple of chapters… **

**Also, HoO Stories, to answer your question, I'd say about five-six, (possibly more) chapters will be in this story, plus the epilogue. It depends on how well I hit the bench marks on my plot mapping. I'm glad you are enjoying!**

**ADDITIONALLY, I'd really appreciate if you'd go to the poll on my profile and vote! It'll help me best identify what YOU guys want to read from me next (:**

**Thanks so much for all of the support! I really appreciate it, and hope you liked this chapter. (the angst will be over soon, I promise)**


	22. Chapter 22

"What?" Annabeth said into the phone. "You're what?"

"In the hospital," Percy replied weakly. "I- there was a car crash."

"What? When?" 

"Yesterday," Percy said, "As I was going to the party. I- they wouldn't let me call you until now, I woke up three hours ago, Annabeth, I am _so _sorry."

Annabeth was frozen. This wasn't right. This couldn't be right. Had she just- "No Percy, I'm sorry, shit, is it okay if I come?" She said, interrupting her own thoughts. "Text me the address, I'll be on my way,"

Despite everything, Percy laughed (though it didn't sound much like a laugh at all), "It's fine Annabeth, I just-"

"_No Percy," _She said into the phone, "I am _so _sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. I just-"

"It's fine," He repeated, "You don't have to come."

Annabeth paused, and furrowed her brows. He wasn't making this easy. "Text me the address." She said firmly, and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm coming." She hesitated. "We have some things to… talk about." She continued, remembering what Drew had said at the party. And, how she didn't know if those things were true or not.

She was hoping that it wasn't true. That was obvious, he sounded so genuine. But… Drew had left an inkling, a chunk of anxiety in her head, one that was not going away unless she had specific confirmation from Percy himself. She needed to see his face.

"Fine." Percy said, sounding resolved. "I'll text it to you." He finished, hanging up the phone. Moments later, her phone _binged! _And she plugged the address into her google maps.

She walked quickly downstairs, and told her dad that she would be taking his car, (there was no chance Helen would allow her to take her own) and he nodded, more focused on the work he was doing on his laptop.

She grabbed the keys, and rushed outside to his car, turning on the ignition and steadying her phone in the car. Having not driven for a while, she adjusted the seat to her person preference and gripped the steering wheel. It was true, most of the time, her parents drove her places, but she did know how to drive. Not super well, but safely. Enough to get to the hospital and back.

Looking down at her blind spot, she took a deep breath, and with shaky hands, pulled out of the driveway. Soon, she was on her way to the hospital- though terrified of all the cars around her.

She arrived ten minutes later, and rushed to the front desk.

Breathlessly, she spoke, "I need to see someone," she stuttered a bit, but then regained her control. "Percy Jackson."

"Okay, let me see," The receptionist clicked her tongue. "Sorry honey, looks like he's only allowed to see relatives."

Annabeth mentally slapped herself in the head. Of course that was true. That's probably why he was discouraging her from coming. Maybe she could find a way to… Oh! That was it! "Please, I'm his girlfriend."

The receptionist then sighed, typed of couple things into her computer, and looked at her. "Fine. I'll let you in. He's upstairs, first room to the left."

"Thanks so much," She said, looking meaningfully at the receptionist. "I really appreciate it."

The receptionist nodded, and then beckoned her to leave. "Okay," She said, rolling her eyes.

Annabeth rushed upstairs, following the intrustictions the woman had given her, turning left to the first door. She slowly walked inside, and saw Percy, whose leg was propped up, and arms was in a sling.

"Shit," She said the first word that came to mind. This instantly captured the attention of both the doctor, and Percy's mom, she presumed. "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt but-"

To her surprise, Percy's mom smiled widely at her. "Annabeth!" She exclaimed. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

"Oh." Annabeth said. "It's nice to meet you to… Mrs. Jackson."

Sally smile was still wide, but weaker. _Obviously it is, _Annabeth thought, _her son just got in a car crash. _ "Call me Sally." She said. "I…" She trailed off, looking at Percy, who nodded. "I have to go to the bathroom real quick. I'll leave you here to talk." Sally slowly made her way to the door, not limping- but at a frail and weak position. The doctor then followed her, and Annabeth presumed they were, instead of going to the bathroom, talking about the details in private.

Annabeth felt _so _bad. She was obviously interrupting something. Sally should be allowed to see her son even if she was there. She almost wanted to run to her and tell her she didn't have to leave. "Percy, I am so sorry." She said, walking over to the chair next to his bed. "I really… I just."

"It's okay." Percy said to her. "It's fine." He closed his eyes slightly.

Annabeth shook her head. "No it's not. I- I was _mad _at you, I genuinely thought I hated you but…I shouldn't have doubted your integrity. I just- everything was so loud, and I felt so alone, and Drew was saying things-"

"Drew was saying what?" He said, furrowing his brows.

"Just that you were only hanging around me to be nice, that you guys were a thing… stuff like that."

Percy shook his head. "Don't trust a word that comes out of Drew's mouth. She's… she can be rude. Really rude. It's almost as if she uses it as a coping mechanism."

"What do you mean?"

"She used to be decent, then her mom left. Now she's… like this." Percy said. "I thought you knew that." 

Annabeth shook her head. "I didn't."

"But either way," Percy continued, "It's not okay, and I'm sorry that you went through that."

"You don't need to apologize. I need to apologize. I just… I was genuinely mad at you, and you were in the hospital, knocked out. What type of person am I?" As Annabeth said this, she leaned down closer to Percy.

He put his hand on hers. "Annabeth, it's okay, you were panicked, and I understand that." Percy's hand on her felt warm, and good, and most of all _right. _"It's okay."

"I really am sorry Percy," She said. "And you're not a 'brainless jock,' I promise you that."

"Definitely not the jock part anymore. With this, I probably won't be able to swim for a while. And my scholarship and the chances of getting it? That's down the drain."

Annabeth's eyes widened. She hadn't considered that- Percy's scholarship, now he would have no chance of getting that. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I'll be fine Annabeth, you don't need to do anything." He said, "I'll find a job somewhere, and earn some money, so that I can pay myself."

Although Percy sounded assured, Annabeth couldn't help but feel that he was really struggling with this. So she did the only thing she could do.

She held his hand a little tighter.

**Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! **

**I can't and won't spoil what's happening next, but I think you guys will like this next chapter… **

**I just wanted to say thanks for all the kind reviews on the last couple of chapters. Some of them made me laugh out loud, and some made me smile really wide. **

**Also, I'd really appreciate it if you voted on the poll that's listed on my profile (I feel like I keep saying this over and over again, I'm sorry)! I have several ideas for new stories, but I'd like to see what **_**you **_**guys want first and foremost (:**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! I keep doing stuff in Annabeth's POV, and I'm sorry, because it's supposed to be alternating, but I promise, next chapter is Percy's POV.**

**Also, please read the author's note at the end of this.**

"Why do they keep letting you in?" Percy asked, smiling at Annabeth as she walked in through the door. It was two days later, and according to Sally, Percy would be able to be discharged in the next few days. They wanted him to stay a couple days for monitoring, and so Annabeth decided she would come to his room after school. She was still using the whole "girlfriend" excuse. "They keep saying to me, relatives only."

Annabeth laughed nervously. "Well…" She hesitated, trailing off. "I'm sorry if this is weird for you, but I sorta told them," She squeezed one eye shot, using the other to see his reaction. "That I was your girlfriend." She finished quickly.

"What was that?" Percy said, eyebrows raised.

Annabeth sighed. He wasn't going to make this easy for her. "I told them I was your girlfriend."

"Oh." Percy said. "I didn't-"

"I'm sorry if you don't feel that way, but we don't look alike at all, so I couldn't use the relative excuse, and this was the only way. I know that you're in a weird mental state, and an even worse physical state right now, so I'm sorry if I'm just adding to that, but I really wanted to see you." God, what was wrong with her? She was babbling. _Mouth, _she told herself, _Shut the hell up, nobody asked. _

But of course, it wouldn't stop, until Percy quickly interjected (thank goodness). "Annabeth, that's fine. If you want to stop lying, you can."

So he didn't want to see her? That was okay, that was fine. "Okay, I'll come clean."

"Annabeth," Percy was looking at her, seriously. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you-" It slowly dawned upon Annabeth what he meant. "You mean…?" She hesitated to say the words.

Percy smiled, and nodded. "Yeah."

She was silent for a couple seconds, processing what he had just said, until Percy looked at her meaningfully, and took her hand. She shook herself out of it. "I mean, yeah, yeah."

"Really?" Percy's smile widened. He squeezed her hand tighter. "I hope I'm not taking advantage of you while you're vulnerable."

"No!" Annabeth said quickly, "No, don't- you're not doing that, I- I feel the same way." She continued.

Percy sighed, and relaxed into his hospital bed. Annabeth felt herself blush, and looked down at her hand, in an attempt to block it. That only worsened it, as she saw Percy's hand on her's. Sighing, she decided to embrace it, and looked over at Percy, who was beaming right at her.

She couldn't understand how he could smile in a situation like this. Despite what had happened in the last five minutes, he still had a broken leg and arm. He still wouldn't be able to swim. He still wouldn't be able to _walk. _She didn't know how he was going to get a job, much more pay for college.

"Percy," She said, "I- I have a merch store. Well, merch items. It's partnered with the website I publish my story on. I've saved up a bunch of money. I can help you with college."

Percy instantly frowned. "No. I can't accept that. I'm not going to exploit you for cash."

Annabeth shook her head. He didn't understand. "My parents and I can pay for my own college. You don't have that luxury."

"It's too fast," Percy told her. "We haven't been friends that long. We've been together for five minutes. You can't do that." He removed his hand from hers, and placed it on her knee. "I appreciate it, but I'm not going to let you do that for me."

She hesitated, and then decided to now speak, acknowledging his opinion. Right. She was taking this too fast. "I'm sorry." She said, "I just wanted to help."

"And there's nothing wrong with that." Percy replied, "I just don't want to be a charity case. I'm _not _a charity case. I'm more well off than a lot of people. And I _will _go to college, I'm sure of that, whether it's on a loan, or a scholarship, or _whatever, _so you don't have to worry about me, okay?"

"Okay," Annabeth said. "I'm still going to worry about you, but I understand what you mean, okay?"

They continued to talk until Annnabeth had to leave for homework and writing. After she left, she wondered what it must be like to be Percy.

He didn't seem guarded to a person that didn't know him very well, but to Annabeth, it felt like he had put a facade of not caring, one that was hard to break through. She never thought, in the past, he would be the type of person to care about grades, or anything like that. He seemed carefree, but as Annabeth got to know him, she continuously went back to- one she used in her stories, paraphrasing a shakespeare line: Things are not what they seem.

Hours later, in her room with a pen in hand, staring down at her notebook, she did what she could do to reason out her thoughts. She wrote a story. This one wasn't connected at all to the plot of her big one, but once finished, she read over it, and felt satisfied, knowing that this was good to publish.

People reason with their thoughts in different ways, and to sort out her ideas, versus the ones she had, writing was the key. She wanted to see what other people might think of it. So, at midnight, hours later, after typing it up, and editing, she pressed the publish button.

It somehow made her feel more connected to Percy, despite him being in a cold, hospital bed alone.

Minutes later, comments came rushing in, some telling her it was good, and others requesting the next chapter of her main story. For once, she didn't read them, and closed her computer, setting it down to charge, and then lying flat on her bed.

She wondered if Percy would ever see that story. If he was looking at it now, or if he was asleep. She hoped that if he saw it, he would know it was about him. Because it was.

"_That's not what I meant" _he had said, and as Annabeth remembered this, her heart tightened, because now, she was not alone. In fact- these last couple of days she wasn't either. Hazel, Piper, and lastly Percy were expanding her world.

They were helping her out of her shell- and although that shell was heavily guarded and locked, she could feel it slowly clicking open- just slightly. That didn't mean she would immediately change, immediately become sociable, but what it did mean, was that she was trying and that other people were helping her try.

And that, she decided, was a good thing.

**Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the support, and I hope you enjoyed **

**this chapter. **

**I also wanted to let you guys know that there are about more chapters left (including the epilogue), and upon the arrival of the epilogue, the poll on my profile will be closed, and the first chapter of the next will be posted.**

**Also, there has been some confusion about the update schedule, so I'm going to clear that up: I update Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Depending on where you live, that will be different. It is beyond my ability to update everyday, and I sometimes even have trouble with the update schedule in place already. Please bear with me, as I am doing the best I can. I'm human, so not everything will be EXACTLY on schedule.**

**Anyway, thanks **_**so **_**much for all the support! Every review, favorite and follow means so much to me, and I am endlessly appreciative of you guys. **


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys! Be sure to check out the last chapter (the one I posted Saturday), I think some people may have missed that. It's a real game-changer (:**

**Finally, a chapter in Percy's perspective! Before, I was doing two chapters for Percy, two chapters for Annabeth thing, but I fell off the bandwagon for that so… I'm sorry. Here's the next chapter:**

Percy couldn't tell if his heart was beating fast because of the pain meds, or because of a person. Annabeth, being that person quite obviously. He had been thinking about officially asking her out even before the accident, but decided that it was too fast.

Then things changed, and Percy crashed and Annabeth had a panic attack. So obviously, he had to adapt to the situation. Adapt a lot. A slight pain to his head came whenever he thought about swimming, and how this would affect that. He had worked so hard to get where he was now, and because of this whole ordeal, he was left feeling a bit empty.

His heart was full, that was definite, but his mind was empty. His thoughts only spanned two topics, and he was worried he was fading.

Swimming was his only chance, and to be honest, he should have been more careful about options. He should have had a back up plan. He should have put down his phone. There were a lot of things he regretted.

But the one thing he didn't was Annabeth. Sure, he _wished _everything hadn't happened, he sometimes even pinched himself to make sure this all wasn't a bad dream. But the thing was, if this hadn't happened, sure, he probably would have a nice time at the party with Annabeth, but she'd probably be left feeling overwhelmed, and Percy, because of that, wouldn't have raised the question.

And yes, maybe she was overwhelmed now, but it was for a different reason, a good reason in his mind, and what he hoped, a good reason in hers.

He was still curious about what Drew said to her. Annabeth had brushed it to the side like it wasn't anything big, but Percy could sense that it meant something more to her. That she was worried about something. Well, more like unsure.

Either way, something unsettled her, and although he was here, alone, in this hospital bed, he knew that overall, she was probably feeling more lonely than him. That wasn't to discredit his situation at all- it was just the truth, and he acknowledged that.

He hoped that she was feeling better now. That whatever had happened with Drew was resolved, and she felt better about it.

And most of all, he hoped he was _somewhere _in her thoughts. Past the notebook, past the books, past the story, past everything. He hoped that he was somewhere among those.

He shifted positions, trying to sleep. It would be a long night, and he could already feel the pain meds wearing off. Hopefully, doctors would come in and replenish them. They kept telling him he was lucky that he had gotten out with just a few broken bones, that the crash could have potentially killed, but Percy didn't feel lucky. The damage had been done, and now, he was officially useless to the swim team. It didn't help that last year he broke his leg too.

Maybe there was some way he could manage this- heal quickly, and be able to swim. Not as fast, of course, but he'd already gotten letters from some colleges. If he told them his situation, and that he'd be able to properly swim next year, maybe they'd sympathize? 

Who was he kidding? They were college board members. That was larger than high school, probably the largest competition he'd ever be in. If they could decide between someone injured but good, and someone not injured and less good, they'd pick the non-injured one. That's just how it goes.

He rolled over in the bed once more, and shut his eyes tight, gripping the blanket. His body was too full of tension to think anything positive. He just had to breath in, and breath out, and soon he'd be fine. Soon he'd be asleep, and then he'd wake up in the morning, and then he'd get discharged.

The doctors said he was making good recovery, and told him he could go home early, and obviously head the precautions they had given him. The normal stuff, don't use the affected limbs, no athletics, be careful, stay at home for two days after discharge, and make sure no contact with other objects comes to the areas of injury.

Boring stuff that he would have to follow if he wanted to get better. This was the second time he'd gotten this talk- the first being last year when he had broken his arm. Obviously, this was more serious, and would require lots of physical therapy.

To be honest, Percy had doubt he'd ever recover in his mind. What if it just stayed this way, and he'd never be able to swim competitively again? Or worse, swim again period. That would cause some… disturbances not just physically, but mentally.

Swimming was an outlet, one of the only available ones he had. His emotions fueled his speed, making him go faster and faster. It was his own little secret, but the competitions where he went the fastest, won the most, did the best were when he was overwhelmed with a single emotion.

His train of thought spiraled from bizarre reason, to naive false hope, until he drifted off to sleep.

The sleep he got wasn't good, but it was sleep, and that was what he needed. Through the tossing and turning, and waking up and shifting positions, he eventually drifted off, steady conscience, into a zone of sleep that lasted four hours.

And then of course, he was woken up by the beeping of a machine. As his eyes slowly pulled open, he saw a doctor talking quietly to his mom, who he had assumed arrived early in the morning. Turning to see what the beeping was, he noticed, even more surprisingly, a card that stood on his bed-side table.

He pushed his body up into a comfortable stance, and picked up the card, slowly opening it, and reading the words on the cover. 

"Get well soon," It read in bright colored letters. Inside, teammates, friends and peers had signed their names along the card. He turned it over, seeing a little note from his coach, and smiled sadly at the note he had left.

He opened the card back up again, and read through the notes and names signed. It seemed that the card had been passed around the school rapidly, even kids he didn't _know _had signed it.

He looked in closer, noticing a scribble almost unidentifiable. "Annabeth Chase," It read in small letting, and Percy wondered why the handwriting she used was so different then the one in her Notebook, which was big, bold and readable.

He set the card down on his lap, and looked through the signatures once more, examining the big ones. The biggest, was Leo's, who scrawled his name, though only three letters, across one half of the card. Coming close in second was Drew's, which was bedazzled, and accompanied with a note he quickly disregarded, as it was in _no _way one of the things he wanted to read right now.

He turned his attention back to Annabeth's, and although it was small and squished, he marveled at how noticeable it seemed to him. Sort of like Annabeth herself.

**Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the support, and hope you enjoyed this chapter. Four more chapters left including the epilogue!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Thanks so much for all the support! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Percy put his good arm down on the wheel of his wheelchair. The doctors said it was temporary, and that he would be out of it soon and on crutches. They said he shouldn't feel bad about it, but to be honest, there is no way he wouldn't feel bad about it.

He rolled it across the room, stopping in front of his mom, and forcing a smile for her. He needed to look strong, like he was okay in front of her.

His mother looked down at him and frowned a bit, pulling his phone out of her pocket. The car crash had severely damaged it, but not so it was unfixable. She was able to send it into the company that created it, and quickly get it fixed. He was surprised it had happened so fast. Usually things like this would take days.

Flipping the switch to turn it on, he scrolled through his notifications. The majority of them were text messages, some social media notifications, and two alerts from the app Annabeth posted her story on. He swiped through the others, and quickly entered the app.

Each notification was from Annabeth, one, was notifying him a new story by her had been posted, and the other was an announcement. He clicked onto the announcement, and read through it.

"_I think I've been kind of quiet lately," _It read, "_Well, not quite, but I haven't been replying to anything or responding to comments. And I have a reason for that. Something recently happened, I'd rather not go into details, but it's sort of a mix of good, but mostly bad things." _He continued to read, scrolling down the page. It was a long message. "_I've been trying to work on new chapters, and don't worry, new ones will come out this week, but it's been hard. I've had a lot to deal with these last couple of days, and so have the people around me too." _

Percy felt his heartbeat increase as he read the next sentence. "_So, I've posted this story, and it's about an experience, one I've had recently, where I got hurt, and someone else got hurt at the same time. Mentally and Physically. I hope you all enjoy it." _It finished. Underneath the text was a link, one to the story, which was titled "Sticks and Stones."

As Percy scrolled through the story, he felt a similarity to it, as if this was something he had experienced. And he soon realized, it was, indeed something he had experienced. Annabeth explained this scenario in a way that made you relate to it without even knowing it.

It was a talent, one many didn't have, being relatable without trying. She seemed to do it so effortlessly, which amazed Percy. The only time his writing was decent, was when his mother looked over it and nitpicked each mistake within it. Even then, he could never do something like this. He could never write creatively, and have it turn out okay.

Well, then again, he hadn't tried. It wasn't exactly something Percy had ever felt interested in. People around him wrote stories, or tried. Teachers in elementary school always gave creative writing prompts he would follow through with and try to write with just for the grade. He never felt connected with writing, not in the way he sensed Annabeth did.

And he hadn't thought he felt connected with reading, not until now. There was no book series he genuinely liked, not until Annabeth's story came along. Not until she'd caught him looking through her notebook in the library that one fateful day.

Shaking away his thoughts, he exited the app, and clicked on his messaging app. It was clouded with messages about the crash, which apparently _everyone _had heard about, Percy didn't even know how they knew.

He individually responded to each one, telling people that he was getting better, that he was thankful for them checking in, and that he didn't know what he'd do about the swim team.

Drew had messaged him several times, in each instance, referring to him as "Handsome."

He really had to talk to her about that. About that, and how he wasn't interested in her. Drew was a person to, and he had to do it in a polite way, but he couldn't help but want to just break it to her and run.

He responded to her messages, and told her that he'd talk to her when he got back. That's when he'd tell her, and hopefully, she'd move on (that was what she did), and that would be that.

He scrolled through the messages, hoping one from Annabeth would come in, but to his disappointment, there was no such luck. He eventually gave up waiting, and set his phone on the wheelchairs handle.

Across the hall, he saw his mother talking to the doctor, presumably about treatment and recovery. How many doctors appointments and check-ups he'd have to go to. He knew the drill.

God, this was boring.

He tapped his good foot against the wheelchair, and twiddled his free thumb. Hopefully this would be over soon, and he could leave.

His hopes were answered, and soon, his mother left the doctor, and grabbed the back handles of his wheelchair (though he was perfectly capable of maneuvering it with his free arm). They exited the building, and with several simple steps, he was in a rental car, driving home.

Looking out the window, he saw all the able-bodied, running, walking, skipping, jogging and biking people on the streets, all making him feel inadequate. Maybe if he looked away, they would disappear, and the feeling would go away.

He turned his head away, and looked down at his cast, which just made him feel worse. Each time he switched his tunnel of vision, it just got worse, until all he could do was close his eyes in an effort to hold back the tears. It wasn't fair, this wasn't fair at all.

Sighing, he pulled his hood over his head. Maybe the feeling would never go away.

**Sorry, this was kind of a sad chapter. ): I just wanted to make sure that Percy's sadness about the crash was clear, because if I just went on about how happy he was to be in a relationship in Annabeth, that would be unrealistic. I wanted to make sure that both Annabeth, and other things were on his mom. **

**More happy couple-like scenes will be coming soon, so don't worry about that! I'm excited to share these next couple of chapters with you.**

**Thanks so much for all the support!**


	26. Chapter 26

**OG R3, sorry, the "on his mom" thing was a typo, I meant to say "on his mind," but didn't catch it until the chapter was published. Thanks so much for pointing that out. (:**

**Also, . . , sorry if I didn't make it clear enough, Percy has a broken arm and leg (which I may have to change). Also, thanks so much, that really brightened my day! (:**

**Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it!**

A month later, Percy had been back in school for several weeks. He scaled the hallways with his crutches, nodding at classmates that passed by. Several students had offered to carry his books, but he untrusted Jason to do it, since he was the only person he had more than three classes with.

But that also meant having to run into Piper, Jason's girlfriend, who now, even after Annabeth set her straight, despised him. Everytime Jason would stop and say "hi" to her, he was greeted with a venomous stare that made him extremely uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Hazel, the other girl who Annabeth had sought out for help was nicer to him. Even though she seemed a bit cold, she wasn't blatantly hating him like Piper was.

It was an uncomfortable situation to be in. In fact, school was an uncomfortable situation to be in. It was a mix of people worried about him because of the team, searching for attention because of the injury, and trying to "get" with him while he was vulnerable.

And of course, also the fact that Percy hadn't set things straight with Drew yet. Despite being in school for a couple of weeks, and having multiple chances to tell her, Percy was worried about the reaction, and each time, vouched out.

Plus, nobody knew about his relationship with Annabeth yet. They weren't being open about it, and Percy couldn't tell if she wanted that or not. They hung out at lunch, and they texted of course, sometimes, he walked her to class, but the school had gotten used to seeing that. Maybe they saw it as "Pity" or "Kindness," because obviously, they couldn't imagine the alternative.

That being that they were dating.

It felt weird to think, and it felt weird to say out loud. In fact, he'd never referred to Annabeth as his "girlfriend" yet, and Annabeth hadn't referred to him as a "boyfriend" either.

There was nothing weird about having a private relationship, but for Percy, it was weird. Whenever he had a romantic encounter (and Percy didn't like to say it, but a lot of those were with Drew at parties while intoxicated), the whole school heard about it within minutes.

He felt that Annabeth might be annoyed by this. She seemed anxious lately, and for the past week, they hadn't had many chances to talk. He'd texted her a couple of times, and she'd replied to it in short, clipped responses. What was he supposed to say to texts like, "Okay," "Oh," and "Yeah?"

He hadn't seen her at lunch for a while either. He first assumed she was holed up in the library, writing, working on her story, but then the other day, he saw her with Hazel and Piper, just talking.

And that was fine. She probably wanted to hang out with them. Foster relationships, they seemed to get along well, and she and Percy talked everyday. That was good enough for him. He wasn't going to stop her from making friends.

Maybe he should just talk to her about it instead of skittering around the topic. He'd send her a quick text, and they'd meet up later at a restaurant or something. A date, which Percy realized they hadn't had. He didn't even offer one up. In most of his relationships, he didn't really _go _on dates. He would just sort of… hangout with the girl.

Taking on his phone, he typed out a quick message to her, and before sending, scrolled through their conversations. Sighing, he closed his eyes, and sent it.

"Want to go out tomorrow?" It read, and Percy cringed at it's patheticness. What was he, a child?

He looked back down at his phone, seeing the three dots pop up on his screen. Annabeth was typing out a message. "Sure," It read, and Percy felt his shoulders relax. That was good.

"So, what's up?" He asked her, and sent it.

Annabeth took a while to type back, as if she had a long response. In the end, the only words sent were: "Nothing much."

She didn't try to continue the conversation- and she didn't have to, she was probably busy. He knew for a fact she had a lot on her plate. He wondered what she wasn't saying- the things she was thinking, but didn't want to say to him.

He sighed, typing and deleting words once more, trying to decide what he wanted to say next. "If you want to talk, you know I'm here," he finally decided, and waited several seconds, his finger hovering over the send button before he clicked it.

She didn't respond. It didn't look like she had read it either. Maybe she just hadn't seen it. That was fine. Maybe she read it from her notifications. That was also fine. He would talk to her tomorrow, and set everything straight.

The next day, Percy went to school feeling a bit more refreshed. His mother was driving him now, in fear that something would happen, and because Percy couldn't drive himself. As she pulled into the school parking lot, he found himself scanning the crowd for Annabeth.

He walked into school, still preening, looking over heads to see if she was anywhere around here. Continuing this for a couple more moments, he mentally slapped himself in the head. She was probably in the library like usual. He could meet her there.

As Percy made his way around the wave of students scaling the hallways, he pulled out his phone to see if she had read the text yet. It noted that she had, but late at night.

He hoped she hadn't stayed up late.

Arriving at the front of the library, he quickly said Annabeth huddled in front of a computer, and snuck over silently. She was staring intently at whatever was on the screen. Percy smirked as he got closer, inching toward her chair.

Silently setting his crutch down and bending on one knee, he gave her a one armed hug from behind, and whispered "boo" into her ear.

Annabeth jumped (which he found _so _cute), and turned around, quizzical glance ready. "Percy!" She said, as she saw it was him. "Why would you do that?" He noticed she was blushing. Mission accomplished.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Percy asked, not caring if anyone was watching them. To be honest, they weren't. Nobody went to the library, and those that did were staring at computers, furiously studying for a test or reading a book.

Annabeth blushed harder. She stuck her tongue out and closed the tab she was on. Percy picked up his crutch propping himself up in the chair next to her. "So," He said, "I was wondering where you wanted to go?"

She smiled, "For what?" She challenged, her eyes squinted slightly.

"Our date." He said,

What happened next- not the words, but the expressions made Percy a bit less confident than before. Her expression changed three different times- first, happy, then neutral, and then with some defiance, even a flash of anger to it. "I don't care," She told him, turning back to the computer. "Whatever you want."

Percy racked through his mind, searching for an idea. When he found one, seconds later, he nodded his head. "Bubble tea?"

"Bubble tea sounds good." Annabeth smiled a bit. "Yeah, that would be really nice Percy, I can't wait."

"Me neither," Percy told her, and smiled. Maybe he didn't have to be worried. She was just busy, and to be honest, everyone was.

Several minutes later, as he maneuvered himself out of the library, heading to his first class. He smiled and looked to see Annabeth was doing just that same. Yeah, he didn't have to be worried at all.

**Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I just wanted to let you guys know that the next few chapters will be scattered, as they will be longer and harder to write. Some chapters may be posted Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I may have to skip the Monday post, I'm really sorry ):**

**I've changed my mind on this a lot, about when the story was going to end, because I've just loved to write it so much. Even so, I've made up my mind, and decided that it will end at chapter thirty. If you have any questions, leave them in the reviews and I'll answer them!**

**Again, thanks a lot. For everything. (:**


	27. Chapter 27

**Ugh, I'm so sorry for the delay guys. I've been planning out the next chapters of this book and the new story that will be out after this is over!  
**

**Anyway, I hope you like this one:**

Later that day, as Percy was leaving the school with Annabeth this time, as they were meeting up straight after, he noticed the strange looks he was getting by people, specifically Drew. It made him wonder how other people saw them, but most of all, made Percy come to the idea that he didn't really care what people thought.

But maybe Annabeth did. From the way she was scanning the crowd of high schoolers, the way she covered her chest with her notebook, her body language told him that yeah, she cared.

He attempted to reach out his hand, but his crutches prohibited him from doing so. He resumed swinging his broken leg with one crutch, and cradling his arm with the other.

They soon got off of school grounds, Percy swinging with his crutches, and Annabeth walking slowly along with him so she didn't leave him behind.

"So," He said, hoping to fill the silence hanging over the two of them. "How's the story going?" They hadn't talked about it in a while, mostly straying away from the subject.

"Pretty good." Annabeth said quietly. "I'm sort of having writer's block right now though, despite having mapped out the entire story. I've only been able to write one thousand words in the last two days which is below average for me."

Writer's block, Percy had heard his mother talk about that before, especially when she was stressed about her deadlines. As someone who only wrote out of obligation, Percy couldn't confess to never having experienced it, but he had heard of it.

"That sucks," he told her, "Is there a way I can help? Be your inspiration?"

Annabeth laughed. "My muse," she said. "No, that's sweet Percy, but I'm good."

"Well," he told her, "I'd like to think I'd be a pretty good muse."

"With looks like those of course," Annabeth said, and laughed.

Percy shook his head and laughed. She was teasing him. "Don't feed my ego."

"Like you have an ego." She said, it was nice that they were bantering- they'd gone back in forth, teasing each other during lunch. This their first date together- her first date period, and he wanted to make it special.

Sure, bubble tea wasn't something huge or extravagant, but he was hoping to convince her _after _that to spend the rest of the afternoon with her, maybe catch a movie or something like that. Cliche first date stuff seemed the safest, but it could also make Annabeth feel comfortable.

What was funny to him, about this entire situation, was that they'd been dating for a month, and had not been on a date, or even kissed.

That was fine, he was sure since this was Annabeth's first relationship, so she probably wanted to take it slow. Sure, there were times that Percy wanted to lean forward and just give her a quick peck on the lips, but he always withdrew.

That didn't matter. They were moving toward, and both of them seemed to get a little bit more confident in the relationship.

Soon, they arrived at the bubble tea shop, talking and walking (or swinging, in Percy's case) as they went along. Stopping in front of it, Annabeth turned to Percy, and opened the door for him, and Percy went in first, closely followed by Annabeth.

He smiled down at her, and they went to order their drinks. Percy looked at the menu and in an instant, decided. "Blueberry flavored tea with boba."

"That took you long enough," Annabeth laughed at him. "I don't know." She scanned the menu for a couple seconds longer. "Lemon, please."

The cashier nodded, and they paid. After the drinks were delivered, Percy led Annabeth to a table closer to the back.

"So," Annabeth started. "What's your thing with blueberries. Or, I guess, blue in general. I mean, your backpack is blue, so is your binder, basically everything."

Percy laughed, half out of obligation, half out of bitterness. This story was a good one, but it would bring back memories of bad ones. Specifically, Gabe. "Um," He started, "I was in what? Third grade when my mom married Gabe. He was…" Percy hesitated. "Not a great guy. I mean, he was nice and all before the marriage, but when he moved on he was just-" Percy searched for the right word but couldn't find it. "Awful, he finished.

"Oh." Percy could see the sympathy in her eyes.

"Kind of abusive," Percy elborated, "When I look back on it. But anyway, I really liked the color blue, and my mom being the awesome person she is, baked blue cookies one day."

"Gabe hated it. Absolutely despised it." Percy would always look on that time bitterly- when darkness drowned out all the light. "But my mom kept making them, it was our own form of rebellion. Since then, it's been blue, water bottles, food, backpacks."

"Wow," Annabeth's eyes were widened. "I mean, that's horrible, I'm sorry you have to deal with that."

Percy shook his head. "Had to." He corrected. "They divorced years ago, I finally 'snitched' that's what he called it- no him, and they caught him and found proof of abuse. So it's all good now."

"I don't want to prode, but it doesn't seem like it's 'all good,'" Annabeth said seriously.

"Not completely, but it's better."

She nodded. "That's good."

Exhaling, Percy took a sip of his drink, and shifted his crutches over so they wouldn't fall on the floor. "Anyway," He kind of wanted to move on from this conversation, but he knew that this is one they _should _have. "What's your 'childhood trauma story?'"

"Well, you saw Helen." Annabeth said. "My mom left when I was young."

Percy leaned forward. "What?" He said to her,

Annabeth laughed. "It's fine, I don't really miss her. I don't have many memories of her, but then there's Helen, and that's a whole other thing I have to deal with."

"Oh." Percy said. "I mean, that sucks that you haven't seen your mom."

"I guess so. But I don't really care if I do or don't" -that seemed like a lie from just looking at the expression on Annabeth's face- "and if I did, that would be fine, I guess, but she wouldn't really be like my mom. I mean, Helen's definitely not my mom, but she's closer than my actual mother is."

The two of them continued to talk about things, stuff- ranging from more serious stuff, to fluff. In the end, as they were leaving, Percy convinced Annabeth to spend the rest of the afternoon with him.

That way the happy feeling in his chest that appeared whenever he was with Annabeth wouldn't leave.

**Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!  
**

**And now, some replies:**

**SupersizeMcshizl, honestly, I can't believe I've gotten this far either. I'm so flattered by your compliments, and don't worry, your reviews could never get annoying. They are just motivation to me. (: Also, I didn't mention this last chapter, but after the epilogue is posted, I will have a longer authors note explaining which story I will be writing next. Also, the first chapter of the story will be posted upon the arrival of the epilogue. (:**

**HoO Stories, yeah, the last chapter was a bit confusing, but when I wrote it, it was mostly just Percy's overthinking that caused that. Some things will have to be resolved between the two, which you'll find out soon!**

**T minus three chapters left!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey guys! Wow, we are nearing the end! **

**A quick reminder: Upon the arrival of the epilogue, the poll on my profile will be closed, and the first chapter of the new story will be up! Look out for that!**

Percy convinced Annabeth to go to this diner near town. It was a place that Percy held very dearly to his heart, and was also just the epicenter of the town. Everyone went there. Kids from the high school, adults, families, everyone worth seeing went there.

Now of course, people not worth seeing went there too, but that's another story.

That's why Percy was surprised, when Annabeth admitted, "I actually have never been there."

Let's just say, that meant alone they had to go, despite being on a date, despite anything. It was such a comforting place, and always made him feel a bit better about himself whenever he went. Now, as Percy was thinking of it, he hadn't gone since the crash.

As he thought about it deeper, he hadn't paid a visit in a while. This would be his first time visiting in a long time, and Annabeth's first time visiting overall.

The diner wasn't far away- it couldn't be, being the central meeting place of kids and families everywhere. It stood smack-dab in the middle of their little town, pictured as a typical, run-off the meal family restaurant.

As they approached the place, Percy turned to Annabeth, trying to gauge her reaction. Her face was set to neutral, not showing any particular emotion at all. A small smile sat on her face, but that hadn't changed for the most of the time they stayed together.

Annabeth opened the door for Percy, and he swung in, inhaling the scent of grilled cheese, burgers and sweat. The signature smell of the restaurant, of course.

They took a couple seats near the back, and Percy noticed a couple of kids he recognized hanging around. They all nodded at Percy, and he smiled at them, turning back to Annabeth.

"So," Annabeth said, "What do you recomend?" She was looking at the menu, which consisted of five main food items. Percy always went with grilled cheese, so much to the point that the waiters and waitresses didn't have to ask for his order.

"Grilled cheese," Percy told her. "And a coke."

Annabeth nodded at him. "I'll get the burger." She said seriously.

"What?" Percy exclaimed jokingly. "Are you doubting my meal choices?"

Annabeth clicked her tongue. "Says the one who likes blueberry bubble tea."

Percy feigned offense. "Blueberry bubble tea is _good." _

"Didn't look that great." Annabeth laughed, and Percy soon joined in. "Anyway," She said, and motioned over to his leg. "We haven't really talked about your injury."

Percy shifted in his seat, a bit uncomfortable. "It's healing. The doctor says I'll be out of the crutch soon enough. My arm is healing fast. That's good."

Annabeth hesitated before speaking again. "When will you be able to swim again?"

"A couple months." Percy told her. At least he would be able to competitively swim during the school year.

She nodded, "That's good."

At this moment, the waitress went over to their table to ask for their orders. She nodded at Percy, already knowing what he was going to say, and telling him it was nice to see him. When she saw Annabeth, she politely asked her order, and she replied, "A burger."

As the waiter left, Percy shook his head. "I can't believe you still want a burger." 

"You know I just did that to spite you," Annabeth told him. "And plus, grilled cheese isn't my favorite."

Percy shook his head solemnly. "I can't believe it."

"That's your problem," Annabeth replied. "I certainly can believe it."

"Fine," Percy said, and they continued talking until minutes later, when the waiter came back with their food. Annabeth immediately dug into her burger, and Percy soon followed suit, taking a bite of his grilled cheese. He watched her as she ate her food, chomping into the burger over and over again until the burger was gone. She then began eating her fries, while Percy was still finishing his first slice of sandwich.

"I'm impressed." Percy told her, and watched as she finished eating a fry.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him. "Please don't make fun of me. My father has constantly remarked about my less than perfect eating habits, but to be honest, if it's good, what am I going to do, not eat it?"

Percy nodded. "But that goes two ways," He said, "You can eat it quickly, and have the food for that moment, or savor it, and carry it on."

Annabeth shrugged. "I'd rather eat it quickly. Makes the moment bigger."

He beamed at her- not just smiled, full on beamed. It was nice he could have conversations like this with someone- so random, yet topical. It was as if they were made for each other- okay, maybe that sounded weird, but… Percy couldn't help feeling that a puzzle piece clicked into place whenever he was with Annabeth. It made him feel a little bit more like himself.

They continued talking, and eating until the food was finished, and it was time for them to leave. Percy picked his crutches up, and slung, alongside Annabeth to the door, and they walked outside, nearing a more secluded part of the town.

Nearing a bench, Percy set his crutches down, and sat on it. Tapping the space next to him, Annabeth sat next to him, and they were quiet. It wasn't an awkward silence- more of a balanced, emotional one.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably just minutes, Percy turned to Annabeth, and she turned to him, almost as if the same thing was on their minds.

"Can I kiss you?" Percy asked, and Annabeth nodded.

Percy closed his eyes, and they leaned toward each other, slowly, as if time was going by slowly, as if everything had built up to this moment, and now-

As he moved closer, he noticed nothing was happening, and he opened his eyes, to see Annabeth's, wide open and… scared?

"I lost my notebook."

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! Next chapter is going to resolve a bunch of things throughout the plot, like the Drew conflict, which I think is really important. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts in a review on this chapter!**

**Also, the Monday update will be postponed again. I'm sorry, I've been really busy these last couple of weeks, so you will see it (I hope) Wednesday.**

**Some replies:**

**SketchyWolf, I do take requests, but it depends on the request itself and how busy I am with life, along with writing. If you have a request, feel free to leave it in the reviews, and I'll be happy to look at it!**

** . . , I totally agree. I've never seen that type of story either. I think it would be cool to write, and If you have any suggestions, pm me, I'd love to hear them! Thanks so much for your compliments, I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story (:**

**T minus two chapters left!**


	29. Chapter 29

**I think you guys will like this chapter, it's a long(er) one.**

**Also, PLEASE read the authors note at the end of this chapter, it has some really important information about the future of this story and the new story. **

Annabeth had to focus. She had lost her notebook before in her house, and it always turned up. It was like fate, she was _supposed _to have that notebook.

She paced. Percy sat just across from her, on his phone, typing out messages to people, asking them if they'd seen it.

"I had it when we walked in the diner," Annabeth said, recollecting her memories, "but maybe I should start looking where we started, at school."

"What do you mean 'I'" Percy said. "I'm coming with you, okay? You can't convince me not to."

"No, you've got to get home, and you have crutches so it's just, you don't have to Percy, you really don't. This is my fault, and I can deal with it myself."

Percy sighed. "I'm coming with you Annabeth." He said seriously. "This isn't your choice."

Annabeth hesitated before speaking again. "Fine." She finally said, "Let's go back to school."

They turned, and Annabeth walked hastily, while Percy struggled to keep up behind her. She made her way quickly toward the school, stopping at moments to let Percy keep up. After several minutes of silence and walking, they arrived at the front of the school.

"Okay, let's retrace your steps out. Did you sit on any of the benches?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I just went out with you. Plus, I remember having it when we walked to bubble tea. I think… maybe? We can check?" Annabeth sprinted over to the bench she usually sat at, and sighed when she saw there was a poignant absence of a notebook.

She sighed, turning back, and burying her head with her hands. Why did this have to happen now? Just as she was feeling happy, just as she was feeling _enough, _this had to ruin it all. And she was so dependent on the notebook. It had everything- the plot map, future chapter outlines, drawings, short stories, messages, _everything. _The notebook, was in short, her lifeline.

She couldn't lose that. Maybe there were more important things in life than the internet, but at least the online world was _hers. _At least it was permanent, at least she'd always comments, messages and people there for her.

Percy stood, shaded by the darkness of the outside, looking at her. She needed to stop, she would find it. Annabeth knew she would. The notebook would always be there, it would always show up.

"Not there." Annabeth said, trying to calm herself.

"I didn't think so," Percy said. "Lets go to the bubble tea shop. We can ask if they've seen it."

Annabeth shakily nodded. "Okay." She said, "Thanks so much for doing this Percy. It means a lot to me."

Percy smiled at her, though a glimpse of sadness was seen through it. "Anything for my girlfriend," he said, and Annabeth's heart tightened in remembrance.

That was right. She was Percy's girlfriend. Even if they hadn't kissed, or even barely held hands, he was there. Emotionally, she knew, and maybe soon, physically. She had almost forgotten that in the midst of everything. Even if she lost the notebook, that wouldn't be it. There would still be something for her. She wouldn't be completely alone.

As she thought about it, she'd never be completely alone. She had her father, and maybe Helen wasn't great, but she was still there. Percy, Piper, Hazel, all the friends she'd made over the last couple of weeks- as she soon realized, because of Percy- would be there for her.

They continued toward the bubble tea restaurant, quickly arriving. Annabeth went straight to where they had sat, while Percy went to talk to one of the employees. Once Annabeth saw indeed, the notebook wasn't there, she felt her heart dip once more, and the sinking feeling someone had taken it arose in her throat.

She walked back, and Percy turned to her shaking his head, telling her wordlessly that the employee hadn't seen it. They nodded goodbye, and left, heading to the Diner.

Once they arrived, Percy talked to the employees and the waitresses, while Annabeth checked each chair, hoping it would turn up somewhere. If it wasn't here, where could it be? They could check the area they were when Annabeth first lost the notebook, and they should, but that probably wouldn't be there.

The sinking feeling in her throat expanding, almost felt like it was suffocating Annabeth- that it was literally closing in on her throat and squeezing.

She wanted to vomit.

Percy once again, told her that the waitress hadn't seen it go, and that's when her heart really dropped.

Shit, shit, shit, this was _not _good. This was not good at all- not just "not good," this was a disaster, and Annabeth was terrified over anyone else seeing her notebook. Percy was a stretch, but one more person, much more, the whole world?

Yeah, that was not good at all.

She felt her Percy move his hand to hers, and stop in his crutches, "It's going to be okay Annabeth. Let's check where we were before. It'll be fine."

Annabeth looked at her hand, which was now in Percy's, to see it was shaking. "No it's not okay." She mumbled to herself, looking away at Percy. "I just, I really need it."

"We're going to find it." Percy said. "Even if we have to pillage the entire town. We are going to find it. Please, just don't worry about it."

"Pillage?" Annabeth chuckled despite herself.

Percy smiled at her, ever so softly. "Yes. Pillage." He continued, "Now come on, let's go."

Annabeth kept up with Percy this time, now walking next to him, as opposed to ahead. She turned to look at his profile for a couple of seconds, the worry in his eyes, but most of all, the compassion. He always looked nice- he was a handsome guy after all.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered, is the notebook. The prized, leather bound notebook she knelt by every morning, every class, every hour of her life.

She was going to find it, somewhere she knew she would find it.

But that wasn't what she was worried about. She was worried that someone found it before her. Someone other than her, someone other than Percy, someone she didn't know well, but knew who she was.

They arrived at the secluded area they had previously retreated to, and took about looking around. She looked under the bench that sat in front of trees, and around the grass- _everywhere._

But it didn't seem like it would show up, until-

"Look who we have here." A voice came from behind them, and Annabeth jumped. She got up from her position on the ground, and turned around to see…

Drew.

Of course it was Drew. Of course she had to stand there, right in her moment of chaos. Right when she was most vulnerable.

Of course it was her who was holding a leather bound notebook between her carefully manicured hands, and of course she was grinning somewhat evilly at the two of them.

Of course.

"Give that back." She heard Percy practically growl from beside her. Drew simply laughed and shifted the notebook from one hand to another.

"Or what superstar?" She said, "You'll take it from me?" Her eyes trailed down Percy's body, almost as if she was partially checking her out, and partially making fun of him. Her eyes widened innocently, almost as if she was being coy.

Annabeth looked to Percy to see if he was falling for it. He wasn't.

"Please give it back." Annabeth said. "I need it, please."

Drew laughed again. "Aw," She said and it was obvious she was being condescending. "Or you'll sic your little internet friends on me? I'd love to see how that goes."

"You're crazy." Annabeth said, and it wasn't just a thought, it was a realization. Drew was going insane, that manic laugh, that coy smirk.

"No," Drew said, clicking her tongue. "You're crazy," she amended. "Thinking you could _ever _take Percy from me."

So that's what this was about.

"I knew you were there, behind that bush at the party while I was talking about him. I knew you were listening." Drew smiled. "I thought that was a warning, to _stay away._" Drew rolled her eyes. "You obviously didn't get the message. Percy likes _me. _He's trying to be nice to you, but he really likes me."

Percy looked up, straight at Drew, raising a single eyebrow. "You're delusional."

"Wait what?" Drew looked confused, and despite the situation, Annabeth genuinely wanted to laugh.

"It's been in your head Drew. Look, I've been trying to be nice to you, I've been trying to let you down lightly, but I can't be nice to someone who isn't a nice person themselves. I like Annabeth- a lot. I really do, and sure, maybe you and I have had a couple…" Percy hesitated in his word choice. "Encounters," he finished, "but that doesn't mean anything to me. Because Annabeth and I, we connect on an emotional level. And with you Drew, it's only ever been about you."

Drew looked shocked- not just shocked, flabbergasted- a word Annabeth never thought she'd use in her lifetime. It was strong, seeing someone so strong, so popular, someone who had everything, looking so defeated.

She dropped the notebook back on the ground, and turned away, walking. After several seconds, she turned around, her mouth formed into… a grin?

"Whatever." She said, "You can have the notebook. It doesn't matter, it's already on my social media. Everyone will see it."

Knowing Drew, she probably had over three thousand followers. That meant everyone was going to see it.

Annabeth rushed over to the notebook, and held it to her chest as a single tear fell down her face. "Shit." She said, hugging it even closer as more followed. "Shit," She said louder, repeating it several times. "Nobody was ever supposed to know. Percy, let me see. I wanna see how many people have seen it."

Percy nodded, handing over his phone. "Annabeth I don't think-"

It was a post, which really meant everyone saw it. A post with already, hundreds of likes. She clicked onto the comments section, closing her eyes tightly, hoping whatever was there wasn't as bad as she thought it might be.

She wiped her eyes as she scrolled through them. The post had originally named her as the creator, and also outed the story itself, which meant at school, people would look directly at her.

But the comments weren't so bad.

"That's actually kind of cool." One read, a smiley face following it.

"Millions of views?" Another one said. "Might have to check it out."

"Damn, I actually love that story. Someone give me this girls #"

Annabeth scrolled further, and surprisingly, a lot of people had heard about the story. A lot of people, more than Annabeth realised. She knew the story was popular, but she never would have guessed people she _knew _actually read it, heard of it, even saw it.

It was a weird sort of feeling.

She checked her own phone, and saw notifications coming in on her message board, story and private messages. One linked the instagram post, and several of her normal readers had asked her if she was okay.

She clicked the power button until it powered off, and walked over to the bench, and sat down on it, hugging her knees to her chest.

"This is a good thing," She finally said to Percy, who was standing several feet away from her, looking concerned. "I-I positive stuff has come in but… in a way, my anonymity was a treasure, something I worked so hard to keep. I wanted to come up with my story on my own terms, and this, she motioned to her phone, which saw on her lap. "This isn't what I wanted."

"If you want, I can get her to take it down, I can talk to her, I can report the post."

Annabeth shook her head. "The damage has already been done. I-I might as well go with it now. I may keep off the internet for a couple of weeks. I'll tell my followers, but, I just… I can't deal with this anymore."

Percy sighed. "Okay." he nodded, "Sure, if there's anything I can do to help-"

"Can you bring me my homework? I don't think I can go to school for the next couple of days. I feel…" Annabeth's throat was still tight. "I feel sick. Sick of school, sick of everything."

"Anything else?"

Annabeth thought about it for a second, and nodded, motioning him to come over. Once he had situated himself on the bench. Annabeth turned to him.

She looked him right in the eyes, and cupped his chin, just so. "You can kiss me," she said, her eyes already closing.

She leaned forward, and this time, there was a follow through.

As their lips met, Annabeth felt her heart mend itself a little bit. As their lips met, she felt as if she was home.

It was soft, but urgent, and gave Annabeth this overwhelming feeling of love. She pulled him closer to her, and hugged his neck, circling her arms around it, and getting closer.

And this didn't feel like some artificial plotline in one of her stories- it didn't feel like star-crossed lovers, situated on different sides of a sea. It felt real, so overwhelming real, it felt unreal.

But as she felt Percy's lips against hers, lips that felt so good, ones that made her so happy, she realized this was what real felt like.

This is what the past couple weeks had been leading up to, this was her happy ending.

… **wow, that's a wrap!**

**Well, technically, no, there's still the epilogue, but wowza! I can't believe I've made it this far. **

**I wanted to let you guys know, that I'm one, really sorry I've been pushing back updates, and two, I may need to push this next update back (as opposed to Saturday, I'll post on Sunday), just because I have A LOT of work to do with the epilogue and the next story (more information in the next chapter, I can't wait to tell you guys!)**

**Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate every single one of you, and how I've adored all of your support. I read every review, smile at every favorite or follow, and it just makes me so happy I've produced something people genuinely enjoy. **

**Please, let me know in the reviews your favorite part of the story, and just what you think overall. Thanks so much everyone, and I hope after this, you guys will check out my new story.**

**Sorry this author's note is a bit long, but I just wanted to tell you guys how much I've appreciated you! Love you all!**

**(By the way, normally, my chapters are about 1000-1200 words, but this one was 2200 because I wanted to wrap everything up (:)**


	30. Epilogue- Chapter 30

**Hey guys, welcome to the final chapter (the epilogue)! I hope you enjoy it, and again, please read the author's note at the end!**

**Also, there has been a site that has copied my work ( is what it's called), so please know that the site doing this has no explicit permission from me to do so. Whoever is doing this, please stop and remove the work, or I will contact to get them to personally remove it.**

Percy stretched his arms out- all newly healed as he pushed himself back into the water, relishing the feel of it. His leg- now healthy, prepared to push off from the wall, and he took one look at the crowd, full of people he knew and didn't know.

He was looking for one person- one specific person, that said she would be there cheering him on. After this meet- the last meet until winter break, which for college, was several weeks, they would drive back home together, and see all of their friends.

Annabeth's classes had ended two days earlier, and she had flown to see Percy's meet this morning. He hadn't seen her since, but she said she was going to be at the competition.

There, she was sitting in the stands, shouting into her cupped hands. Percy couldn't wait until after they meet, were he could take her in his arms and just-

He hadn't seen her in a while, that was all. They kept up with calls, messages and facetimes, but it wasn't the same. Annabeth was now, with her story, more popular than ever, and the reveal that had happened the previous year had only increased her popularity.

Since then, she had started a youtube channel for writers, opened up on social media, and although all of this took time, and although she wasn't able to come out on her own terms, she seemed happy now.

When Percy had just met her, she was beautiful- of course, but now she seemed more- she seemed vibrant. Her curls bounced as she shouted into her hands, and Percy could practically see the confidence coming out of her.

The whistle blew, and it was time for him to go. He pushed off the wall, and swam, arms bobbing up and down, as he accelerated more and more through the water. As a turn came, he quickly flipped around and pushed off, his change of direction increasing his speed. Swimming faster in faster, he finally got to the other side, and breathed deeply, trying to get the air back into his lungs.

Then he looked up.

Nobody was there.

Did that mean he had gotten last? Wait, had he just bombed the last competition of the season?

Suddenly, swimmers began arriving at the end, and Percy realized that no, he had _won. _These people- they had swam slower than he had, and that meant…

That meant he has the first place champion.

He set his head against the side of the pool, smiling and ringing his hands through his hair. People run toward him, but he doesn't notice them.

Wow. It's like a dream come true.

He finds Annabeth in the crowd, who appears to be screaming at the top of her lungs. She looks so proud right now. Her curls bounce up and down as she jumps and cups her hands. He wants to run to her, and hug her, tell her how much he loves her.

He loves her.

It's true, it's so obvious that it couldn't not be. He's loved her since he met her. Since he watched her, knelt over her notebook, scrawling unidentified words on the page. He can't believe he hasn't told her yet- or even thought to tell her.

He gets out of the pool, and is immediately given a towel. He wraps it around himself, soaking up the water droplets falling down his chest, and nods at the people who congratulate him.

He wants to go straight to Annabeth, and wrap her into a huge bear hug, but he can't. He's being led to the locker room, and he wouldn't want to get her wet.

Quickly drying and changing into clothing, he grabs his bag, and practically _bolts _out of the locker room. Percy wants Annabeth so much now- no, he needs her.

And there she is standing in the light, looking at her phone and scratching the back of her neck. Her princess curls are put up into a ponytail now, and she doesn't seem to notice Percy.

That's going to have to change.

He rushed up to her, and she barely has time to register who it is, because then he's kissing her, and everythings okay now.

He shifted his lips to her ear, and whispered into it. "I love you so much,"

Annabeth stiffened, and she seemed caught off guard. Crap. Did he mess this up?

"You don't have to say it back," Percy said, "I just want to let you know."

Annabeth shakes her head furiously, her ponytail bouncing around, hitting Percy in the face as he holds her. "No, no. I don't know why I did that." She said, "I love you too Percy. So much."

Percy relaxes into her grip, and squeezes her tighter to him. He moves his lips from her ear, to her mouth, and they kiss once more, and Percy feels his heart tighten, just a little bit, with joy.

It's then when he realizes how lucky he is. How lucky _they are _to have found each other. It's been a long road, from failed dates to drew. From heartbreak to kisses, and most of all, from hate to love.

And even if Percy doesn't know much, he does know one thing- that all of this love, all of this joy comes from her. Sure, he can find joy out of other things, but she's the best thing he has right now.

He hopes she knows it.

Even if they started out rough, that's okay, because a perfect relationship is impossible- Percy knows this, it's so true. As many people say, love is messy. It doesn't fit neatly into one pile- it's scattered across a floor, flung everywhere imaginable.

And messy is good sometimes.

So he hugs Annabeth even closer than before, and whispers words of love to her as they hold each other. Gone are the insecurities, false thoughts and delusions- now it's just them- the two of them, standing there, together.

They curl out of the embrace, and Percy takes her hand.

There's no telling what's going to happen- life can't be wrapped up into a box with a sticky note reading "happy ending." Ups and downs always happen, but Percy knows that through everything that's happened in the past, that they'll have a happy ending.

Love is too strong for them not to.

**Wow. I can't believe I finished this story. This is probably the first fanfiction I've ever successfully finished. I have so many projects on the side that aren't ready to be published, but I'm so glad that I put this one up.**

**All the support on this story has been absolutely amazing. I've said this before, many times, but I appreciate every favorite, follow, and review. All of your messages have made me smile, and I'm so happy that all you guys have enjoyed the story.**

**On that note, I'd like to tell you that the first chapter of "Heartbreak" (see my profile for more details) is posted! When I was choosing what to write next, I put into consideration both the poll results, and what I wanted to write.**

**More about "Heartbreak" is on my profile! It's Percabeth, but is more angsty (though there will be a happy ending!)**

**Again, thanks so much for the support, and I hope that you'll check out "Heartbreak."**

**See you in the next story!  
**

**\- TheLil'Lion**


	31. Knelt By Her Notebook Sequel!

**Hey **_**Knelt by Her Notebook **_**readers! So I was just randomly scrolling through fanfiction, when I had the realization I should probably post a chapter on **_**here **_**about the Knelt by Her Notebook sequel. I don't know how much of you don't know about it, so I'm just writing a note here to let you guys know, just in case.**

**So yeah! I've started a sequel. It's entitled **_**Sitting by Her Study, **_**and follows Percabeth's college journey. It'll be much shorter than **_**Knelt by Her Notebook, **_**but I'd appreciate it if you could check it out. Here's the blurb:**

_**Sitting by Her Study Blurb: **_Annabeth Chase… she's the best Percy could ask for. But with Annabeth increasing online fame, and Percy's growing swimming career, there isn't even one flaw in the system- they're perfect for each other. But then, of course, drama always seems to wiggle itself into the situation. Knelt by Her Notebook Sequel, but can be read as a standalone.

**Updates are like on all of my other long-term stories, Monday's, Wednesdays and Fridays.**

**If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the reviews or PM me, and I'd be happy to answer them. Again, thanks so much for all of the support, and I hope you guys have enjoyed this story!**

**TheLil'Lion**


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